This is a detailed, comprehensive guide to learning how to play chess. Primarily intended to serve as a manual for those teaching chess in schools and colleges, and for parents teaching chess to their children, or themselves, the book is an ideal starting point for anyone, no matter what age, who wants to take up the sport. "Volume I" looks at the chessboard and the starting position; how pawns, rook, bishop, queen, knight and king move and capture; chess notation; the centre; check; checkmate; castling; relative values of chess forces; how games are drawn; how to record moves; how to open a chess game; test. "Volume II" looks at the rules of play; chess terms and concepts; attack and defence; mistakes in the opening; opening traps; exploiting a large material advantage; double attack; pawn endgames; pinning; the skewer; typical mating combinations; other endgames; final test.