The following is a quick guide to determine at which level your child would feel most comfortable. There is a brief description of each level and a list of its prerequisites.
The levels have multiple semesters each. Each semester is new and different, as each class is custom-tailored to suit the developmental needs its students. An individual student may spend one or two years at any one level before moving on to the next.
Little Squires
Eager children in senior kindergarten and grade one flock to this quick, introductory chess class where fun is rule number one. They will have a ball making friends in group activities as they learn to name the pieces and move them about the board.
Prerequisites: None. This is where your young one can begin their chess journey!Rookie Rooks
Children in kindergarten and grade-one take their knowledge of the pieces and grow with it. They play exciting chess games, learning with their friends how to set up the board, chess rules, and even how to checkmate!
Prerequisites: Name all the pieces and demonstrate how they move.Noble Knights
In Noble Knights, children in grades one to four learn, understand, and apply individual chess concepts and life skills. They focus upon one chess concept and one life skill per lesson, like Critical Thinking En Passant, Communicating by Centering, or Empathy in King/Queen Endgames, and then demonstrate their new knowledge in fun activities. These interactive sessions present puzzles and games on dozens of chess topics including checkmating patterns, stalemate, pins, forks, and the always popular, “special moves.”
Prerequisites: Describe the difference between check and checkmate.Future Masters
In Future Masters, children in grades three to six use their knowledge of life skills and individual chess concepts to analyze and evaluate real-life games and to create sophisticated tactics and strategies of their own. They race against their friends to solve checkmate puzzles, identify discovered attacks, and calculate the profit and loss on complicated piece exchanges. Critical thinking techniques become second nature as they absorb the strategies of positional chess, pawn structures, piece development, even King-Pawn endgames.
Prerequisites: A Lichess rating of 1000 and the ability to answer questions about a variety of fundamental chess concepts. For example, can your child answer each of the following questions correctly?
1. List the rules of En Passant.
2. Describe each of the five methods for dealing with an attack.
3. Define a pin.
4. Distinguish between stalemate and two other types of tie.
Elite Club
This is a special chess class for more serious players with a minimum rating of about 1700 on Lichess who are eager to improve. 90-minute classes include advanced chess lessons and formal tournament games with longer time controls and emphasis on game analysis.
Prerequisites: Instructor recommendation
What's covered?
The following chart shows how our curriculum broadly distributes categories of chess study across each course level. For example, over the 8 lessons of a Noble Knights course, a little less than half the study time (45%) is invested in learning chess tactics. As your child progresses to the higher levels, the overall distribution becomes more balanced.
Still not sure?
We’d love to meet your young aspiring chess player and help you find a suitable program for them!
Free evaluation sessions are running each week.
