Hi Jpbischke,
I think you are in luck. There *are* some sources for obtaining audio
tapes to help you learn to play Chess, though bear in mind that since
it’s a visual as well as mental game, you’re probably going to need to
put your instructions into practice on an actual or virtual chessboard
fairly soon after listening to the lesson(s) if you want the material
to stick! Maybe you could get one of those magnetic boards you could
keep in your car. :-) However, that said, here are the resources I was
able to run down for you:
By far the best seems to be “Audio Chess,” a company that has been
around for 25 years and specializes in exactly what you’re looking
for, i.e. audiotapes that teach people how to play chess. As they
explain, their prices are listed in British pounds, but when you go to
pay for your purchase, you can choose $USD or Euros as well. Here’s
their homepage: http://www.audiochess.com/index.html?audiochess3.htm&1
. If you hover your mouse along the top menu bar where it says “chess
books,” “cassettes,” “tournaments,” etc. you’ll see a drop-down menu
for each. Click on the one under “cassettes” that says “Beginners”
and you’ll get a nice selection of tapes that are also quite
reasonably priced.
Then there is “Listening In,” a series of audio tutorials produced by
“Criss Cross Technologies” based in New York. You can order
individual tutorials for $15 each, and there is one that includes
learning to play chess. These tutorials are designed for teaching
people to use Windows-based talking computers, so I imagine this
tutorial would be targeted to online chess games, but the moves are
going to be the same no matter what the medium. Check them out here:
http://www.crisscrosstech.com/listenin.html and scroll down to find
Listening In Volume 3, Number 4, July - August 2001.
“Creative Chess Thought Audio” is part of an entire multimedia CD
series of chess lessons for the intermediate player. Although the
course is multimedia, the description of the “CCTA” cd says you get
several hours of spoken instruction and it is used in conjunction with
additional software that you apparently use to perform the moves.
Therefore, it would seem as though the CD could be used either alone
or in conjunction with the associated software. Have a look at it
here: http://www.creativechess.com/Products/CCTA/ccta.htm
“Chesswise” features, among other tutorial offerings, over 20 hours of
audio lectures by two chess grandmasters. Problem is, it’s in
RealAudio format, which you can’t play on a tape or cd player. If,
however, you have or can get access to a laptop multimedia computer,
this might be worthwhile: http://www.chesswise.com/
Not much description on this one, but here’s an audio cassette with
chess lessons for beginners:
http://amail.co.uk/cgi-bin/e-buy.pl?domain=tcs-chess.co.uk&action=add&p=AU-LESS
Main site: http://tcs-chess.co.uk/
The Talking Chess Trainer might be a little hard to use in the car,
but then if you have a fairly flat place to lay it near you, could
work too. Worth looking at: http://www.log2shop.com/sametachtrct.html
And just to round things out, here are some links to sites with lists
of general chess instruction of various kinds, including multimedia,
software, video, books, and online instruction. One final thought –
there are a lot of videos available. Perhaps it might be worth your
while to select one or two that looked especially good, and then
record the audio track onto tape or CD to carry with you, leaving the
video for reference at home at another time.
With that in mind, here is one I would certainly get if I were
interested in learning chess:
How to Play Chess. Your Host: Orson Welles.
http://members.tripod.com/~SWAN566/chess.html
And the rest:
-- http://www.testyourchess.com/cgi-bin/(55jxt345iwfcfq55jw5c3lz4)/TYCHome.aspx?G=JRUW201THU5QG
-- http://www.instantchess.com/store
-- http://www.chess.co.uk/videos2003.html
-- http://www.chesscenter.com/coaching.html
-- https://www.dvdvideoplanet.com/product_info.php?products_id=4047
-- http://www.chesszoom.com/soft.htm
Hope this information helps you find what you’re looking for. Please
let me know if anything needs clarifying or further explanation. Good
luck and have fun!
Cheers,
Byrd
Search terms used:
audio “how to play chess” OR “learn chess” OR “chess instruction”
“learn chess” audio tape OR cd
chess instruction audiobook OR “audio book” OR “audio cassette” OR
“audio tape” OR CD
chess “visually impaired” OR blind |
