Little Fritz - Online

Do you remember how you learned to play chess? Maybe it was the typical, classic way: with the grandfather as the teacher who never lost his patience? Or at the chess club, one of those lessons given by some weird, but nice guy? Maybe he was self-taught, learned with the help of a pocket book? Now ChessBase and the renowned German publisher Terzio, specializing in children's software, has just released an interactive teaching program for learning and practicing chess.

The story

As soon as Prince Fritz has taken office to replace his father, the White King, who has gone to spend a few days of vacation by the sea with his wife, the mess begins:

The evil Black King immediately takes advantage of the situation and challenges the boy to face him in a chess duel. But... little Fritz has no idea how to play! Oh, my God! However, encouraged by his courageous cousin Bianca, who has great initiative, he accepts the challenge. It's more than that: it's about defending the honor of the royal house!

And that's how the story starts. Fritz and Bianca go to the arena where the duel will take place. On their way they bump into King Pintojo, who is an old family friend. Naturally, this cheerful gentleman is willing to help the children prepare for the funeral. Through a collection of games with sounding names, such as The Toilet Scraping” or The Peon's Grind”, he teaches them how to play each of the pieces. And all without using a chessboard. That is, the beginners in those moments will not even realize that it is actually playing chess.

After these warm-up games, the children will begin training in the Neuron Gym to gain knowledge. There he has his domain the sewer rat Leo Listo, an old and experienced chess trainer under whose bat they will begin to practice how to beat the opponent on the board. Interesting questions will be discussed such as, p. and . , What's with the staircase mate? What do you mean drowned? What about boards? What do you call opposition? The same didactic approach is followed and the aim is to give very original explanations which are at the same time easy to understand and remember. And so it's time to train hard on the virtual board, learning everything you need to get deeper into the game of chess, not just the rules and how the pieces move, but also the tactical advantages each one has. What's the use of knowing how the tower moves if you don't know how to mate your opponent with it?

There is a training database for each of the sections with many different positions to be able to practice the moves in the corresponding situations. All this always under the attentive company and supervision of the tireless coach Leo Listo, who identifies the mistakes and explains how everything should be done. The difficulty of the exercises will gradually increase and you will learn step by step. It's about playing chess. When a subject has been sufficiently practiced, a glass is given.

Anyone who wants to check how he's doing in training can go up on the brain scale so that coach Leo Listo weighs the “neurons” he's developed. Once all the tests are done in the light, medium and heavyweight classrooms, the big moment arrives: start the duel in the arena against the unpleasant Black King! Now we have to be attentive and concentrate well to be able to hit hard this opponent so dangerous... Here it will already show whether one has managed to become a "small strategist" or a "big tactician". And, with a little luck and a lot of skill, you can now come out ahead in defense of the honor of the white royal house!

Lots of chess fun: from start to finish.

After the duel with the Black King, the adventure ends, but not the fun of chess. At any time you can face King Pintojo again or challenge the Black King again or also play against Leo Listo, depending on your tastes and the strength you want in your opponent. Anyone who wants to continue training can do so too. There are about 500 exercises that will be recreated dynamically in each section. Surely some chess fan may even be tempted to break records at the games, p. and . , to be the best breaker of all time or to fill the pockets of money to Mrs. Punyo Cerrado in her tower full of spiders.

Get off the ladder - With two towers you take the king to the edge and checkmate him!

Imprison: What's the quickest way to checkmate the king with a rook?

Capture Training for quick thinkers! Here you have to quickly see which pieces can be beaten!