title: Checkmate at Chess City
author:  Piers Harper 
description: Harper (Snakes and Ladders, 1997) has produced an intense and eye-catching puzzle book intended to teach basic strategies of chess. Each full-color, double-page spread shows a chessboard courtyard in Chess City. The black king and queen have been captured, and the reader must move the different black pieces across each courtyard to the rescue. Each page is, actually, a maze; various pitfalls wait on squares, and readers have to figure out how to get each piece from the marked start to the finish, moving only as the piece allows. Except for the different patterns of movement then, each page employs the exact same strategy, making this more of a drill in piece movement than a book of actual chess strategies. Each chessboard courtyard is vastly larger than a real boards 64 squares, and the perspective and busyness of the spreads may strain some eyes. The mazes are satisfyingly tricky, however, and puzzle-minded kids who are beyond Wheres Waldo should enjoy this for hours. A text box toward the end tells a little more about The Game of Chess. Although it doesnt deliver all it promises in strategy and excitement, this is an enjoyable game book. (Nonfiction. 7-10) -- <I>Copyright &#169; 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.</I>
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  # MISS GABRIEL’S GAMBIT
  
  
  
  
  
  # Rita Boucher
  
  
  
  
  
  # Chapter 1
  
  
  
  
  
  An unnatural silence pervaded the dark paneled room at White’s. An occasional
  whisper, a stifled cough and the passing clatter of carriage wheels were the
  only sounds as all eyes focused on the bespectacled man seated before the
  table. David Rutherford pulled the crumpled envelope from his pocket and
  reverently broke the seal.
  
  
  After scanning the contents, he reached across the table to the chessboard,
  selecting the lacquered black queen. He held it suspended for a moment,
  acutely aware of the expectant faces of the small audience of chess
  aficionados. Then, with a theatrical flourish, David placed it on the diagonal
  opposing his king. A collective sigh rippled across the room.
  
  
  “Check,” he declared solemnly.
  
  
  The silence was complete once again as David inspected the board, but it was
  obvious to himself and every member present that there was no escape possible.
  Shaking his head bemusedly, David