Scholastic Chess

      Cartoon about youth chess. (3K)

      Of our 1,400 students, 86 percent meet some federal poverty criteria. But this championship shows that our young men can reach the highest levels, regardless of race, economic background or family situation.

      -- William Duffie, of Chicago's Orr High School, 1996 National Co-Champions

      Chess Instructional Material

      • Chess Primer, from Jon Edwards. Nice. Requires frames-capable browser. New!
      • Chess Academy, from Gabriel Schwartzman, 1996 U.S. Open Champ. Recommended.
      • 1996 U.S. Cadet Championship At the U.S. Chess Center site. For the first time, an all-master field, with an average rating this year of 2264. Round by round results, game scores and photos of the event while it is in progress. Great Web coverage of an important youth tournament!
      • Chess Student FAQ From Traveller WWW site. Excellent.
      • Beginner's Chess Page More good stuff from Traveller. Check it out.
      • Exeter Coaching Page Recommended.
      • Chess Syllabus by Ken Sloan
      • Frequently Asked Questions about Chess in HTML format (not limited solely to "scholastic" issues). Very useful.
      • Master Preparation College Course at UMBC, taught by Grandmaster Smirin.
      • 10 Steps to a good opening
      • Elements of Positional Evaluation Excerpt from book by NM Dan Heisman, posted with the author's permission
      • Catalog of Chess Supplies from John Bain. Includes some books aimed at scholastic market. (Commercial Site).

      Research/Essays on Chess Coaching

      • The Kingsley Chess Experiment Carol Skinner's excellent essay about innovative approaches to scholastic chess organization in Illinois.
      • How to Improve Your Scholastic Chess Program, by active Virginia chess organizer Martin Roper.
      • Chess Is the Gymnasium of the Mind Short essay at American Chess Foundation site.
      • K-12 Why Play Scholastic Chess? Nice essay by Bill Savioe at the Chess Archives site in Huntsville, Alabama
      • Seeds an essay on philosophy of scholastic chess promotion

      • Scholarly research papers on scholastic chess programs by Dr. Robert Ferguson. Highly recommended. In Adobe Acrobat PDF format:
        • Chess in Education Research Summary
        • Condensed version

      *Download free PDF viewer to view the listed documents.

      Tools for Chess Organizers

      • Chess Lobby How to build public support for chess. Includes, among other things, sample letters you can use as models for your own letters to state and federal legislators. Another resource from the Association of Chess and Teachers. Recommended.
      • Download Chess Software Steve Pribut, author of the Chess FAQ, makes it easy.
      • The Scholastic Chess Mailing List Subscribe for free, easy communication with scholastic chess coaches and organizers around the world.
      • Collection of links to educational material compiled by Chess Space. Very good.
      • Chess Puzzles from community newspaper. "Good for intermediate players or sharp kids."
      • College Chess World History of college chess competition by IM Dan Edelman.
      • Chess_in_Schools: a Brazilian project

      Reviews

      • Searching for Bobby Fischer reviews:
        • The Book
        • The Movie -- A classic film. Review was praised by GM Larry Evans
        • Great SFBF review from Fischer biographer Frank Brady, in ACJ:
          "Searching for Bobby Fischer cleanly captures the essence of a little boy's struggle to become a champion."
      • Review of Fresh from American Chess Journal. Another movie with chess elements.

      Scholastic Chess Organizations

      Organizations:

      • Chess in the Schools An American Chess Foundation Program. Highly recommended.
      • ACS (American Chess School), headquartered in Bradford, PA.
      • Western Pennsylvania Youth Chess Includes schedule. New!
      • Chess 'N Math Canadian scholastic chess organization.
      • Huntingdon Valley Chess Society Juniors Non-for-profit Philadelphia youth organization now in its 18th year of operation. Point of Contact: NM Dan Heisman.
      • Kasparov Chess School Commercial operation with NJ Master instructor.
      • UMBC Info on scholarship opportunities for chess players at University of Maryland at Baltimore County.
      • New Mexico Scholastic Chess Pages Nice. Includes rosters of winners of past U.S. scholastic tournaments.New!

      Schools:

      • Kingsley Elementary School Evanston, Illinois--Great model for other schools to follow. Check out the "kid friendly" diagrams illustrating games from the Anand-Kasparov match.
      • Lanier Middle School, Houston, Texas. "Netscape enhanced," ambitious and fairly elaborate. You may learn something, and get a smile, from their list of do's and don't's. For example, "Do not wear the shirt to a tournament, that you slept in the night before."
      • Forest Edge Elementary School, Reston, VA. GM Lubomir Kavalek talks about his experience as a volunteer chess coach at this school in his Washington Post chess column.

      Scholastic Chess Camps

      • CHESS FOR JUNIORS NATIONAL CAMP/CLUB

        • Huntington Beach, CA 92655 has a full time youth chess facility with about 220 members ages 5-17. According to NM Robert Snyder: "We hold the national record for training top champions with 27 students winning first place in a championship section at NATIONAL SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIPS! In November we took top teams in Elementary, Junior High & High School in the ALL AMERICA CUP and our students got first individual in all 3 same sections! The club also introduces chess to about 10,000 students each year in the schools - offering free presentations to local schools and also after/during school ongoing programs. CHESS FOR JUNIORS CAMP every August in the Southern California Mountains has top trainers work with students intensively from all over the US and Europe." New!

      • Ken Sloan's list of chess camps
      • Castle Chess Camp  Executive Director Dr. Robert Ferguson
      • UMBC Chess Camp. Featuring GM Ilya Smirin. Next dates: June 23-27, 1997.
      • Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Camp
      • Montreal & Toronto  Chess 'N Math Association
      • U.S. Chess Center  Washington, DC. Many programs for children year round.
      • Alabama Chess Camp with GM Edmar Mednis
      • Stuy Town Chess Club. On Manhattan's East Side. "First Little League chess organization." Hall of Famer John Collins is on the board of directors.
      • A New England scholastic chess camp
      • Dan's Chess Pages: Camp for K-12
      • Chess Center of New Jersey scholastic camp
      • Oklahoma Junior Chess Association

      Scholastic Tournament Reports

      • 1996 Canadian Cadet Championship
      • 1995 U.S. K-12 Championships, Syracuse, NY
      • Internet World Student Chess Championship
      • 1995 U.S. Junior Closed
      • 1995 U.S. Junior Open
      • 1995 U.S. Cadet Championship (held at U.S. Chess Center, in Washington, DC)
      • Tournament Report
      • Games in PGN format

      Scholastic Tournament Schedules

      • Ohio
      • Alabama Chess Calendar lists local and national scholastic events.

      Comments / Corrections / Suggestions

      This is not the right place to ask simple questions about chess. Chesslinks Worldwide attracts thousands of visitors every month, and we do not have the resources to answer individual questions.

      Please use this form only to make comments relating to Chesslinks Worldwide, not to ask simple questions about chess generally. Visit the following sites if your question relates to:

      • Playing chess on the Internet. Explantions of how and where to do it, written by Dr. Steve Pribut.
      • FAQs ("Frequently Asked Questions") about chess and computer chess by Dr. Steve Pribut.

      If neither of these resources has the information you want, don't send your individual question to Dr. Pribut, either. Post it at one of the Usenet newsgroups about chess.

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      Last Update: January 21, 1997