A different approach to children's chess clubs

[Richard James]

It’s very clear that the way chess is currently run in many primary schools in the UK produces short-term enjoyment at the expense of long-term interest in the game. By and large, the standards are very low. The clubs are geared towards competition through the UK Chess Challenge and EPSCA competitions, as well as local junior events. Instruction is either non-existent or pitched at too high a level for most of the children. Without parental involvement in the learning process and with sessions only once a week there is no scope for the repetition and reinforcement young children need to master a complex game such as chess.

Most children, unless they are exposed to a lot of chess at home and/or at school, will learn chess better by using sequential rather than holistic methods of instruction. The Steps method, used extensively in the Netherlands as well as in many other West European countries, is a sequential chess course focussing on tactics lasting 6 years. Conversely, in this country, most children learn holistically, being typically taught the moves by their parents so that they can join their school chess club.

What I am proposing is a modest move towards a more sequential method of delivering chess instruction, linking up with the competitive structure already in place in this country, giving parents the opportunity to be more involved in the learning process, and ensuring all children taking part in the course gain a sound understanding of the basics of chess.

The coaching material is already mostly available on chessKIDS academy (http://www.chesskids.com). The Level 1 and part of the Level 2 syllabus can be accessed via the left-hand menu. The rest of the Level 2 syllabus and the Level 3 material can be accessed via the ‘Intermediate Lessons’ tab. The Level 2 and Level 3 club concepts are based on the two sections of Richmond Junior Chess Club up to 1997. I am currently writing the Level 1 workbook and am hoping to pilot this in one or two local schools starting in September.

[Richard James]

Level 1
Suitable for beginners and aimed specifically at younger children. (Older children would be able to teach themselves the basics.)
Syllabus: the moves of the pieces, check, checkmate and stalemate, the values of the pieces, the basic concepts of attack (what strong moves can I play?), defence (what strong moves can my opponent play?) and safety (is the move I want to play safe?).
This is best run as a formal course lasting a school year although children with some previous knowledge might be able to come in, for instance, after one term.
Teachers at this level need not know too much more about chess than the material in this course. An ability to understand, relate to and work with young children is more important. A club at this level could be run by an enthusiastic teacher or parent, and would be suitable for running within the school curriculum or as an after-school club. Clubs could also be run, for instance, by youth groups, Cubs etc. and could also be run by Junior Chess Clubs and private chess teachers.
Club format: quick lesson followed by activities, completing worksheets, puzzles, games (for the first half these will be mini-games with a smaller number of pieces). Length of club – 30-60 minutes depending on the age of the children.
Courses could be run locally to train teachers and parents to run clubs of this type.
Media: Children’s book (comprising simple instructional material, worksheets and other activities) – all members will receive one of these, Handbook for teachers/parents to give information as to how to run a club at this level, website (chessKIDS academy) with multimedia instruction, chess computers, further worksheets etc.. The website would also include sample end of course tests in both written and interactive format.

[Richard James]

Level 2
Suitable for children who have completed a course at a Level 1 club successfully or who can demonstrate a basic knowledge of the rules of the game and the basic ideas of attack, defence and safety.
Children should be able to pass a written test in order to qualify for a Level 2 club – this test would typically take place at the end of a Level 1 course.
Syllabus: basic opening principles, a few simple openings, Scholar’s Mate and how to stop it, basic endgames (2R, KQ and KR mates, KP v K, endings with more pawns), basic tactics (forks, pins, skewers, discovered checks/attacks, deflection/decoy), basic positional concepts, notation and use of chess clocks.
Teachers at this level will need some experience/knowledge of competitive chess – an ECF grade of 100+ would be appropriate. Understanding of issues involving how to work with young children would also be essential.
Clubs could be run by schools but in most cases they will need to buy in an outside teacher. It would be quite possible for a school to run a Level 1 club and feed through children who want to take chess further to their local junior chess club. Community junior clubs serving a group of schools in the same area could also be run at this level.
Club format: as above, quick lesson followed by completion of worksheets and games (at this level in a semi-competitive format). Length of club – 1-2 hours. Most schools will only be able to run for 1 hour but junior chess clubs may well be able to run for longer.
Children at this level should be introduced to competitive chess through the UK Chess Challenge and/or matches against other local schools.
Media: as above, children’s book, handbook for teachers/parents, website, end of course tests.

[Richard James]

Level 3
Suitable for children who have completed a course at a Level 2 club successfully or who can demonstrate the appropriate level of chess knowledge.
Children should be able to pass a written test demonstrating knowledge of the Level 2 material in order to join a Level 3 club. There might also be a practical test to ensure knowledge of basic mates etc..
Syllabus: more advanced opening knowledge (names and basic ideas of major openings: Ruy Lopez, Queen’s Gambit, Sicilian Defence etc.), more advanced tactics, more advanced positional knowledge (understanding of pawn formations etc.), more advanced endgame knowledge (the opposition, Lucena & Philidor Positions, Q v P on 7th rank etc.).
Teachers at this level will need to be fairly strong and experienced players (ideally ECF grade 150+) and with experience of working with children.
Only a few schools (mostly in the private sector) would be able or willing to run a chess club of this nature. These will be larger junior chess clubs on the lines of Richmond Junior Club. If there is a national network of junior chess clubs schools and Level 2 clubs will feed through players who have completed a Level 2 course and want to take the game further.
Club format – again usually lesson followed by games, but children will be expected to play games on the clock using different time limits and, at least on occasion, to record their games. When games are recorded, the teacher will be able to analyse the games with the players and perhaps demonstrate one to the whole class. Length of club – usually 2-3 hours.
Children at this level will be encouraged to take part in higher level competitive chess – stronger junior tournaments and open age tournaments with sections for less experienced players.
Media: as above, children’s book, handbook for teachers/parents, website, end of course tests.

[Richard James]

Please feel free to comment, or to PM or email me if you're interested in running a club on these lines in a primary school or elsewhere.

[Andrew Camp]

Already do. Don't assume all schools are doing it incorrectly.

I run 3 separate clubs within my school.

Bronze Group: Absolute Beginners
Silver Group: For those who can play, can demonstrate some basic strategy and those who completed the Bronze year.
Gold Group: Advanced players who have passed the Silver Year, had good results in tournaments and who know a decent amount about tactics and strategy.

I also run a fun open session once a week for kids to play, enjoy and try out ideas.

In all I do six hours a week on chess in school and also offer private coaching for kids who want it and whose parents are very supportive.

[Richard James]

Hi Andrew - I said MANY primary schools, not all.

Chess can be very successful in primary and prep schools if children have the chance to play every day and get proper tuition. You're getting it right, which is why your players are so successful. Twickenham Prep, in my area, are getting it right as well.

What doesn't work is when I go into a school once a week for an after-school club and the children are doing no other chess at all. It's that sort of school that needs to take a different approach.

[Andrew Varney]

I came across the chesskids website less than a year ago, and I wish I'd seen it earlier. I have been running a school chess club for 3 1/2 years now, and have used some of the material from your website when it was formatted in a similar way to that you are describing, albeit in a more ad-hoc format. I also regularly recommend the website to my players. The beginners' material is great for the younger players (e.g. they love the naming of the pawns, and the way other ideas are written, they stay in their minds). At the other end of the spectrum, this week I intend to go through some of the Ruy Lopez traps again with my two children. They were very impressed with it all 6 months ago when we first looked at it, but since one of them fell foul to a similar idea this weekend, I think it bears repeating.

I think running the beginners' material as a course would be good, but the more advanced material personally I think is best interspersed with other ideas, tournaments, etc. I'd say that it's still perfectly good for a school chess club in this format, though. Over the last few terms I've run the chess club in two sections, and have used some of that material with the U11 team and top U9 players.

[Andrew Camp]

One thing you can never do too much is go through the basic mating stratgies:

King and Queen v King
Two Rooks v King
King and Rook v King etc

Does my head in every tournament I go to where kids get in this situation and cannot force the win.

Nearly every week, I get my intermediate group to do these drills for at least ten minutes.

[Richard James]

Hi (the other) Andrew

Many thanks. I presume your children are Zoe and Daniel whom I saw at the Richmond Rapidplay on Sunday. I was on the stage doing the pairings.

I agree with your comments. Again, you're getting it right.

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

The longer I have been involved in junior chess, the more I am convinced that there is something fundimentally wrong with the way it is currently done. There is such a catastrophic drop off from primary school to secondary school that I wonder if we wouldn't end up with more adult chess players if we started off teaching chess at year 7 rather than year 2.

I didn't start playing serious chess, i.e. against people other than my family, until I was 13 years old, and it seems from chatting to other players that this is quite common for people of my sort of standard.

If you want to become one of the best in the world then you need to start very young, but for most of us, if chess is going to become part of your life into your 20s and beyond then maybe it is better to start playing in your teens.

[Richard James]

I reached the same conclusion myself a long time ago.

I started doing school chess clubs in 1993 as a result of the formation of the Richmond Chess Initiative. After a few years it became clear that unless the school was really committed they were, if anything, counterproductive. It also became clear that these school chess clubs were having an adverse effect on the numbers and standard of new members from local schools we were getting at RJCC. So I took a break from school chess clubs, and from RJCC, to learn more about children and about teaching.

Studying the Dutch Steps method, and exchanging emails with Cor van Wijgerden, was an eye-opener to me. He was suggesting that if you took a totally different approach to primary school chess you could get it to work. But the whole philosophy behind it was so different from what we were doing that it was hard to see how it could be implemented here.

By the way, I learnt the moves at 10, but only started playing competitively at 15. I'm sure that if I'd been a member of one of the chess clubs I'd been running I wouldn't have enjoyed it and wouldn't have got very far at all.

Another thing: I suspect the kids who would potentially get most out of chess may well not join their school clubs at all. It may be different in other areas, but here in affluent Richmond the kids we get in school clubs do several 'improving' activities every day of the week, and, because they are spending so little time on each, don't get very good at anything.

The kids who would benefit most from chess, the quiet kids, the not very sociable kids, the quirky kids, the kids who don't like physical sports, kids in fact who are just like I was, probably won't join the clubs at all, and, if they do, won't enjoy them.

[David Shepherd]

Get rid of U11 tournaments and EPSCA U11 teams, instead just have U9 and U13 and U18.

[Philip Adams]

Get rid of U11 tournaments and EPSCA U11 teams, instead just have U9 and U13 and U18.

Interesting to find someone else thinking this way.

I am not sure I'd go quite that far, but I have argued for some time that the so-called "England U11 team" process is part of the problem; I compare it to the 11+ examination - great for the few that pass, very discouraging for the majority who don't make it, and are thus made to feel failures at the tender age of 11. Is it any wonder that so many children give up chess around that age?

[Richard James]

Get rid of U11 tournaments and EPSCA U11 teams, instead just have U9 and U13 and U18.

Interesting to find someone else thinking this way.

I am not sure I'd go quite that far, but I have argued for some time that the so-called "England U11 team" process is part of the problem; I compare it to the 11+ examination - great for the few that pass, very discouraging for the majority who don't make it, and are thus made to feel failures at the tender age of 11. Is it any wonder that so many children give up chess around that age?

Yes, I never liked the selection process for the "England U11 team" very much. The last time I visited the London Junior Championships, some years ago now, the floor of the parents' room was awash with tears as children came out of the last round crying because they hadn't made the qualifying score for the England trials.