Typical Session Activities

You may find that our chess club operates differently from what you expect. That reflects our vision that more kids playing chess is good but that more kids playing better chess is better. We attempt to balance keeping the experience fun, accessible, and light with opportunities for those that are more experienced or competitive. In 2023-24, we experimented with a variety of approaches to move from being primarily a venue for playing chess to one that has more opportunities for players to develop their skills. This was only possible with parents sharing ideas and increased support of our volunteers. 

Here's a typical session:

• Teachers drop kids in hall outside the media center. Name tags are distributed, color coded for 3 experience levels (Blue, Green, Yellow).

• Kids assemble for quick announcements.

• 1-2 subsets of kids are directed to adjacent spaces for group coaching of 8-20 kids (e.g. Basic rules for new members, more advanced strategies with coaches for advanced members).

• The remaining kids are assigned their first match. Most commonly this is to play someone of a similar skill level. Occasionally we assign 2 vs 2 play so that the kids have opportunities to learn from each other as a team. We assign these matches to avoid kids only playing against their friends so that they can develop stronger skills.

• After the first match, the kids can play anyone they choose.

• Alternatively, they can also solve chess puzzles suitable to their skill level as puzzle stations. If successful, they receive a token.

• Once coaching is completed, kids are encouraged to play against our coaches. That includes 2 players vs. 1 coach. Win or lose, they receive a token.

• Game results are recorded after each match (excluding coaches) and used as the major (but not only) factor to move kids between skill groups each week, or even within the group. Read more in the FAQ.

• Tokens may be exchanged for 1 small treat per session (regardless of how many tokens they collect). See FAQ for treat choices.

• Kids and volunteers clean up the space & the release process commences (see Need to Know for release information).

Things look pretty chaotic during pick up but as we've introduced more variety, the engagement during the middle 40 minutes of the session has risen a lot!