"The ancient art of KAPABAKA has been practised by warriors for many centuries. It's named after a famous fighter who, in his day, was almost unbeatable. I always get kids coming up here who think they're so smart because they've killed a few Morphies or zapped some of those pesky Kravasko clones. There are plenty of kids around who are good at killing aliens, but very few kids who are brave enough to survive being attacked themselves."

"Tell me, kiddo. What happened to you?" "Well, I thought I was safe but..." "That's what all you kids say. I thought.... Do you cross the road because you THINK there won't be any cars coming? Of course not, you LOOK! In battle you must do exactly the same thing."

"First lesson - YOU MUST ALWAYS LOOK FOR THREATS. If you are being THREATENED you MUST take action. There's NO CHOICE!" "But how do I know when I'm being threatened?" "Watch me carefully and I'll show you a few examples."

"Before you know how to meet a THREAT you have to know whether the guy who's THREATENING you is bigger or smaller than you are. Here you see the values you need to know. LEARN them, MEMORIZE them and DON'T EVER FORGET THEM!" If you're being THREATENED by a smaller guy you have a choice: run away, get a friend to stand in the way or kill him first. If you're being THREATENED by an equal or bigger guy you have the extra option of getting a friend to defend you. If he's bigger than you are he won't dare kill you if it means he'll get killed himself. If he's equal to you it will be a fair exchange. Tough, but, hey, that's life!"

"Here's an example. The White Knight is THREATENING the Black Pawn in the middle. Black MUST do something about the THREAT. The pawn can't run away so he needs to find something to DEFEND the THREATENED pawn. The move shown by the arrow is just one way in which he could do it."

"In this example White's just moved his Bishop to ATTACK the Black Knight. But because the Knight is defended and is the same value as the Bishop Black doesn't need to move the Knight. Instead, one thing he could do is move up his pawn to THREATEN the Bishop. Because the Bishop is bigger than the Pawn it will have to run away. It could either capture the Knight (which would be an equal exchange) or retreat.

"Now it's time to see how good you are at spotting threats. If you're ready to have a go click on the button below."

"Well done! You've shown me that you understand about looking for THREATS. Remember this. Wherever you are on the battlefield there may be enemies THREATENING you. You must ALWAYS look out for them and find a way to meet the threat."

"Your next lesson is very simple. ALWAYS LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING!! Everywhere you look on the battlefield there are dangers. Booby traps! Landmines! Enemies in hiding waiting to jump out and kill you! Use your eyes, look all round and make sure it's SAFE before you move anywhere."

"Here's an example. If you were the White Queen would you want to make this move?" "Looks good to me! Next move I could take that pawn next to the King and do this KISS OF DEATH! Wait a minute, though! If I go there I'll be killed by that Knight! So it's not safe - I shouldn't go there?" "Correct! Always check VERY CAREFULLY that what you want to do is safe. Use your EYES to see where everything is BEFORE you even start to move."

"Sometimes you have to look a bit harder to see if a move is safe. What about this one? "No, it's not - he'll be able to take my pawn with his pawn. No, wait, I can take back with my knight, so it's safe. Hold on, then his knight could take my knight, so it's not safe. But then my queen would take his knight so it is safe after all. Hey, this sure can get a bit complicated!"

"Now let's see how good you are at telling whether your move is safe. Click on the button when you're ready to go."

Firstly, ALWAYS LOOK TO SEE IF YOU ARE BEING THREATENED. If you are, you will usually have to meet the threat before you can do anything else. Secondly, WHENEVER YOU MAKE A MOVE, ALWAYS LOOK FIRST TO MAKE SURE THE MOVE IS SAFE.

But you know, that's not true at all. Losing is really good. Making mistakes is really good. It's only by losing that you learn. Fighting battles is never easy, and you'll often meet guys who are bigger and stronger than you are. You're going to lose a lot of battles before you become a really strong fighter. And every time it's going to hurt. But every time it happens you become a stronger fighter - and a stronger person as well. I can tell you're brave enough to understand this. Not many kids are, though, you know. Now it's time for you to return to the battlefield, but don't forget. If you have any more problems you can always come back and see me again.

I'm sure you've learned a lot about how important it is to be very careful when you're fighting a battle. Just as well really, because, guess what! The Caissans have returned, with an even stronger army. Make sure you do two things: ALWAYS LOOK TO SEE IF YOU ARE BEING THREATENED, and ALWAYS CHECK YOUR MOVE IS SAFE BEFORE YOU PLAY IT. Good luck!"

"Well done! you've beaten the Caissans yet again. But this time it wasn't so easy, was it? Before you take them on again you'll need some even more lethal weapons.