Sammy Seahorse Teaches Chess
A light-hearted introduction
by F. Donald Bloss and Andrew Kensler with cartoons by Shelly Fischman

• Professor Don Bloss’s first book on chess, Chess at a Glance (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1967) went through several printings and enjoyed many favorable reviews, including one by John Demos in Library Journal: “This is without doubt the best book on chess instruction I have ever seen.”

• Page 6, describing the cartoon on the book’s cover and answering the question,  “How did Sammy the Seahorse learn to play chess?”:
  “Day after day Sammy Seahorse [a ‘resident’ at the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C.] watched closely as two workers played chess in front of the tank he shared with Stella Starfish, Cary Grunt (narrow stripes), Gary Grouper, and Joan Crawfish (large claws).”
  
  Sammy acquires a chessboard and chessmen and decides to teach his tank mates how to play. He explains the board itself and the names and rules governing the various chessmen, and then the ways each chessman can move.

• Page 65:
  “Can we start a real game now?” asked Joan. “You’ve been talking too long.”

• Page 110:
  “Can you see that there are five different moves that will pin pieces?” Sammy continued. “If it is WHITE’S move, WHITE has a choice of four different moves that will pin Black chessmen. And if it is BLACK’s move, BLACK can even pin a White chess piece.”
  Cary and Gary swam in lazy circles above the board, studying it, and Joan scuttled around into WHITE’s position while Stella occupied BLACK’s. Soon Stella said, “If it is BLACK’s move, how about 1. ...Ra8-a1?”
  “Yes,” said Sammy, “that pins the White Bishop on c1 against the White King.”

• ISBN 978-0-936015-61-33
  • 192 pages, 5 1/2 inches x 8 1/2 inches, perfect bound, 1995
  • $11.95 plus shipping, per copy
    • US shipping and handling - $5.00, add $.50 for each additional book
    • International shipping and handling - $15.00 for Priority Mail International