Starting and Running a School Chess Club
If you are a teacher, or
parent interested in setting up a school chess program in your school,
there are many avenues open to you. The path you take should be dictated
by your familiarity with the game and the support network you have
available to you.
Gauging the Level of Interest in Your School:
It is first suggested that
you gauge the level of interest by sending home a notice or form to
determine interest. Once you’ve considered the feedback we’ve provided
below, draft your notice to parents.
Your Experience:
You don’t need to be an
experienced chess player to run a chess club. If your school is an
elementary school, these kids often want nothing more than a place to play
and other kids to play with. You can, if you wish, limit the club size
initially to those who have experience playing chess and expand it later
to include novice chess players. You might, as well, appeal to parents who
play chess to assist you.
Duration of Club Meetings:
The duration of club
meetings can vary to suit the time available to you. The length of time
required to play a game of chess by players in lower grades (K to 6) may
range from 5 minutes if the players are unevenly matched up to 30 minutes
for the more serious players more evenly matched. For planning purposes,
it is recommended that the duration of your chess club meetings should be
no less than 30 minutes and no longer than 90 minutes. Less than 30
minutes and the more serious players might not get to finish a game,
resulting in frustration, while more than 90 minutes might tend to exceed
the concentration span of younger players.
Obtaining Equipment:
Chess sets are really all
you need to start. Chess sets for schools come in tubes convenient for
quick access and easy storage. These sets consist of sturdy plastic pieces
and a durable roll-up vinyl mat. The sets can be acquired directly from
the Chess’n Math Association (chess-math.org), a nationally based
not-for-profit organization promoting chess in schools across Canada.
The NLSCA may be able to help get a new club started with a starter kit. Please
contact us
if you would like more information on this.
Suggestions for Funding for your School Club:
To expedite setting up your
club, we recommend that you obtain some funding to acquire the
additionalal chess sets. Potential sources available to you would be the
school through your school principal, or your school council. To ensure
that the interest of club members is genuine, we suggest that you charge a
small fee to join the club. Use this money to
maintain your club over the school year.
Holding Tournaments:
Holding tournaments within
your club is a good way to prepare your players to play in tournaments
against other schools. Playing in tournaments is
the only way to gauge the development of your club members. The easy way
for you to do this in your club is to group those children interested in
groups of 4 players or 6 players. Once done hold a simple round robin
match where each player is paired against each other player in that group.
You assign 1 point for each win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a
loss. If you have more than 1 group, take either the top player or top 2
players in each group and combine them later to form a single group and
repeat the process. Round-robin pairing sheets to organize games and
record your results are below:
Rating your tournaments is a
great way to keep younger kids interested. Each child who plays will get a
scholastic rating from the Chess’n Math Association. This rating indicates
the skill level of a player relative to all other players across Canada.
To rate your tournament you need only keep a record of the results of your
tournament for each and every game played and provide it to our
association. We will forward it to the Chess’n Math Association and they
will issue your player(s) with a computer generated ‘id’ and a rating
based on their performance in the tournament. The cost for rating a
tournament is $0.50 for each player entered. Ratings are updated on a
weekly basis on both the Chess’n Math website and our website (www.chess.nfld.net).
When to Hold Your Chess Club:
There are several options
open to you, each one having certain advantages and disadvantages.
Consider each one carefully weighing the time you have available. If
you’re flexible, you might ask parents to indicate their preference in
your notice home.
Lunch-Hour Chess:
A lunch-hour program held in
a spare room like the Art room or Resource room. Alternatively, if you
have a small group, a classroom will do. If you don’t want to get too
involved, your club could simply be the kids in your home classroom.
This format is geared
towards a meeting of 1 hour duration. As it’s being held during the school
day, you maximize your opportunity to involve more children. The
disadvantage is that it may be difficult to have parents assist you. If
you’re familiar with chess, this might be the best format for you.
After-School Chess:
An alternative to a
lunch-hour program would be the after-school format. This format typically
attracts the greatest number of kids. It might also offer you some support
by parents willing to stay behind and assist. The main disadvantage is
that after-school kids are often tired. Consequently you might want to
limit the time to 45 minutes to1 hour.
Evening or Weekend Chess:
Evening or weekend chess in
your school is recommended for consideration only after you’ve established
your chess club, i.e. you might consider it after you have one year under
your belt. This format usually attracts those kids more serious about
playing chess. It is beneficial in that it offers you an opportunity to
draw upon a larger number of parents with playing skill. You might want to
consider this approach if your chess skills are limited and you can draw
on parents interested in assisting you.
Support from the NLSCA
Please feel free to
contact us.
if you need ideas, or if you run into any difficulties. We exist to promote and encourage chess in schools all across
Newfoundland and Labrador and we will do what we can to help.