Our aim is to not only provide a safe space for children to play chess against their friends but deliver weekly lessons and over time develop our members into club-level players or beyond.
Our lessons will follow the internationally recognized step-by-step method. Our first lessons for beginners will assume our children have no knowledge of the game and so will teach the basics of how the pieces move. As we go through the year we will tackle more challenging concepts building on that earlier knowledge. Depending on the range of abilities we may split the class into two and tackle more challenging concepts with some kids earlier on.
All of our tutors are highly experienced club players who have volunteered to pass their knowledge to the next generation.
Our Plan for beginners
Lesson 1
Children will be taught how to correctly set up the board, how all the different pieces move, how to attack/capture an enemy piece and how to name a square on a chess board.
Lesson 2
The class will learn the points value of the different pieces. Children will also be introduced to the different concepts of defending their piece including moving away/ protecting/ capturing/ blocking and line clearing.
Lesson 3
Children will be taught how to evade check and attempt some simple mate in 1 puzzles. We will then teach how to mate queen and king vs king.
Lesson 4
We will demonstrate how pieces co-operate together to deliver mate. We will attempt some mate in 2 puzzles before teaching how to mate with king and 2 rooks vs a king.
Lesson 5
Children will be shown how to castle, the advantages of casting, when castling is illegal and we will drive home that they should always castle early in their games.
Lesson 6
This lesson will focus on when to exchange a piece and when not to exchange a piece. We will demonstrate how to count the value of different pieces before exchanging those pieces in order to make the most profitable exchange. We will also teach how to mate with king and rook vs a king.