Many schools are reluctant to start a chess club because of unrealistic expectations. So what does it take? Let's take a look::

Requirements for starting a great school chess club

If your school falls more in the "Reality" column, then you’re ready to start a chess club!

Many schools feel that they need to have grandmasters and "really smart" kids to start a club. The reality is all you need are kids, a few boards, some space, and an adult willing to donate a little time.

All kids can benefit from chess. Kids may see it as just a game. But research has shown that chess enhances scholastic abilities including test scores. Think of it as "exercise for the mind", a fun way to practice concentration, patience, logic, and mental calculations.

Start your club simple, then add things as it matures.

1. Start-up – Stop thinking about it and (as the Nike ad say) Just Do It!
2. Recreational play – Providing a fun environment for kids to come and play chess with each other.
3. Instruction for new players – Don’t know how to play chess? Come to club and learn the game?
4. Club competition – Have mini-tournaments and competitions to stimulate interest.
5. Tournament competition – Competing with other schools offers a new level of excitement. It also provides incentive for higher instruction.
6. Instruction for experience players – For the player ready to advance, begin studying tactics and strategies.

The first rule of starting a chess club is: Don’t wait for someone else! If you don’t step up and make it happen, it’s unlikely someone else will. You have the opportunity to enrich the lives of dozens of young people.

Make it a decision right now, even before you reach the end of this sentence, to take a positive step toward making a chess club a reality at your school...heck, I’ll even make this a run-on sentence to give you a few extra moments to firm up your resolve... OK, good, now that you’ve made your decision, I can finally end this grammatically-challenge paragraph.

There are a few thinks you will need to get started.

• Chess Club coordinator – This can be a parent, school administrator, or community volunteer. Their purpose is to be the focal point for organizing activities. Only a basic knowledge of the game is necessary.
• Facilities – Anywhere with tables and chairs will do, preferably somewhere quiet.
• Chess sets – Don’t let a lack of equipment prevent you from starting! Chess sets begin at about $3 each (about $1.50 per kid). Ask the PTO for funding, or the school, or just ask kids to donate sets as price for joining. You can build up to better quality sets as the club matures.
• Scheduling – Pick a time that does not conflict with similar activities. Length of time can vary. Experience has shown that 30-45 minutes is about the max for Kindergarten and 1^st graders while middle school’ers can fill 90-120 minutes.
• Players – Plan on starting small and manageable but don’t deny any child the opportunity to join and play. Start by sending flyers to upper-grades first and work your way down. You may end up with 8 or 80 players. It doesn’t matter as long as you’re reaching all the kids who want to play.
• Dues – Ask for nominal dues. About $5 per player may be sufficient to bring in funds without discouraging anyone. Do not exclude anyone because of the parents inability or unwillingness to pay.
  

1. Contact the school to ensure you have their support. Find out what resources they will provide.
2. Bring it up at your PTO. As with any new idea, expect some skepticism, but also expect some partners who can help you out. Organize your volunteers. Treat them like royalty.
3. Schedule a regular weekly session.
4. Send out sign-up sheets so you can anticipate the numbers
5. Enthusiastically welcome the students.

B. Recreational Play

Emphasize the purpose of the club is to play chess and have fun. No other activities should be allowed (unless this is a game club).

Once kids start playing, try to group kids by skill level. If someone is winning more than losing, encourage tougher play.

Always emphasize good sportsmanship.

Make no mistake. Chess can be a complex game, especially for young children. However, experience has shown that any child that can be taught the alphabet can be taught chess. The younger they start, the more they will likely to get good at the game and enjoy it later in life.

For teaching "beginning chess", you do not need a chess expert. What you really need is a good teacher who knows the basic game, is good with kids, and can explain things simply.

The key to teaching very young children (pre-K and up) is to reduce the concepts and explanations into its simplest elements. Keep it light and entertaining.

Don’t try to teach the entire game at once. Teach it a piece at a time starting with the least complex. Use simple made-up games along the way to reinforce the concept.

The order of complexity for learning the pieces (starting with simplest) is: rook, bishop, queen, king, knight, pawn.

Typical learning game: Rook’s pawn hunt

1. Have players place their rooks on the proper squares.
2. Have players place their pawns at random anywhere on the board being careful not to blockade their own rooks.
3. Rules: Pawns are asleep and cannot move. Object is to take turns capturing pawns. First player to capture all opposing pawns wins.

Unfortunately there are very few chess books aimed at small children. One of the best is "Pawns and Queens" available only through the USCF.

Teaching older kids is simpler because you can find more books for the older audience and you can assign homework.

The concepts of keeping it simple and pacing per the child’s ability to absorb still hold true at any age.

It can be amazing how introducing a little structured competition can stimulate interest. For small clubs, the adult coordinator can usually administer a structured competition. For large clubs, use techniques that allow kids to do it themselves.

Prizes – Keep prizes cheap, simple, and plentiful. Buy a bag of bulk candy. Give one or two pieces out as a prize. A valuable prize does not significantly increase interest. Just the idea of winning seems to be enough.

Club competition techniques:

• Single-elimination tournament –
  Sign-up 8 players.
  Round 1: Player A plays B, C plays D, E plays F, G plays H.
  Round 2: Winner of A/B plays winner of C/D, winner of E/F plays winner of G/H.
  Round 3: Winner of A/B/C/D plays winner of E/F/G/H for the prize
  Handling draws: Play again with 5 minutes on chess clock.
  
• Double-elimination tournament.
  Sign-up 8 players
  Round 1: Player A plays B, C plays D, E plays F, G plays H.
  Round 2: Winner of A/B plays winner of C/D, winner of E/F plays winner of G/H. 2^nd chance bracket: Loser of A/B plays loser of E/F. Loser of C/D plays loser of G/H.
  Round 3: Winner of A/B/C/D plays winner of E/F/G/H. 2^nd chance bracket: winner of A/B/E/F plays winner of E/F/C/D.
  Round 4: Undefeated winner plays 2^nd chance winner. (2^nd chance winner needs two wins here to win the tournament.)
  Handling draws: Play again with 5 minutes on chess clock.
  
  With pre-made sheets, elimination tournaments can be self-administered by older kids. Prizes, however, should only be offered for coordinator arranged tournaments where player strength can be somewhat equalized.
  
• Chess ladder
  Create a set of cards with players name on them. Arrange in a ladder format.
  Players arrange own games.
  If upper-rung player wins, upper-rung remains unchanged. Lower-rung goes down one rung.
  If lower-rung player wins: Distance = 1-3 rungs then switch, 4+rungs then upper-rung player goes down 3, lower rung player goes up 3.
  Players cannot turn down a challenge from a lower-rung player of their last game was against an upper player.

• Round-Robin – Create an 8x8 grid with place for names along each row. Columns should be labeled "Against player…" 1-8 to correspond to names . Sign up 3-8 players. Each player plays each other and records results. W=1 point, L=0, and D=.5

• Double Round-Robin – Create an 8x16 grid with place for names along each row. Columns should be labeled "Playing white Against …" 1-8 and "Playing black against…" 1-8.
  Sign up 3-8 players. Each player plays 2 games against each other (one time as white, one time as black) and records results. W=1 point, L=0, and D=.5
  Winner is player with most points.
  

• "Me vs …" – Create a sheet with "Name:____________" on top and "Me vs ________ W/L/D" repeated 8 times. Student put his/her name on top. Finds an opponent and plays a game. At conclusion, records result and opponent’s name on paper. Repeats with different opponents. After 8 different opponents, turns paper in for a piece of candy.
  
  This technique is great for young kids and for a new group who do not yet know each other. Coordinator can also review results and begin to group kids based on strength.

E. Tournament competition

Inevitably, some of your club players will be the best and may get bored by lesser competition. Competing against other schools can stimulate new life into a school chess club. It can be as simple as calling another coach and visiting the school, or making a road trip to a regional tournament.

Focusing on team scoring can also change the culture of your chess club. Kids will not see each other as adversaries but as teammates that can help with team scores. They will be more likely to help each other and share techniques in anticipation of the next tournament.

Be sure to properly set the expectations. As in any activity, an unseasoned team usually does not do well against other players. Let your first tournament be a benchmark that your players will try to beat next time.

Introducing advanced instruction can be one of the biggest challenges for a new club. At the advanced level, the intricacies and nuances become more complex and are more difficult for the casual player to fully grasp, let alone teach to others.

Your best bet is to try to obtain the services of a highly experienced chess player. Most cities have adult chess clubs and there are many experienced players who would truly love the opportunity to work with eager young chess players.

If expert instructor is not available, a casual adult player can still provide valuable structured teaching to the students who are ready. Be very honest with the students that you are not a chess expert but are willing to find material and conduct classes. Here are some techniques:

- Basic Tactics: You can learn these easily and discuss them in class. Basic tactics are the foundation for everything else. Basic tactics include things like: forks, pins, skewers, removing the guard, and double-attacks. Buy a book on basic tactics. You can pick up these concepts just fine.

- Basic End-games: It’s important that players know how to finish off an opponent so they can play accordingly. All players should have a full and working understanding of: two-rook checkmate, King-rook checkmate, King-Queen checkmate. They should also be familiar with other common mates like back-rank mate and smothered mate.

- Openings: Find youth-oriented books that have annotated games organized by opening. Choose an opening and go over several games on each, discussing the points with the students. When studying openings, you don’t have to take the game to the end, just to some logical end of the opening sequence.

90% of all scholastic games start off with E4-E5 so focus on those openings first.

Managing a large club (> 50 players) can be very challenging. The key is organization and volunteers. Here are some tips for successfully managing a large club.

• Volunteers – Get help! Plan on one adult per 30 kids. Delegate responsibility and authority.
  
• Club norms – Establish club rules right away and post them. Respect of equipment and others, good sportsmanship, clean-up at end of chess club, etc.
  
• Skill grouping – Designate playing areas by skill such as Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, and Advance. That way, players will be surrounded by similarly ranked opponents. If a player is winning more than losing, encourage them to move a higher level.
  
• Name tags – Create name tags for each player. Place codes on the name tag that may help you in club situation like skill level or if this person takes an activity bus.
  
• Sign-in sheets – Have kids sign-in. If being picked up, have the adult sign them out. Inevitably, someone will want to know: Is Johnny in chess club today? Was Suzie picked up? Having a ready reference will make it easier for everyone.Activity sheets – Have club competition sheets at the beginning. Have chess puzzle sheets read for those kids who are just tired of playing but still have lots of time before end-of-club.
  
• Computerize! – Get all your players on the computer. Use a database product would be best but a spreadsheet might do. Start off with name, grade, and teacher. If you’re ambitious, add in address, birth date, USCF #, USCF rating, skill level . With a computer, you can generate name tags, mailing labels, tournament sheets, and miscellaneous reports.
  
• Don’t expect a monastery-like setting. If you’re running a great chess club, kids will be enthusiastic and somewhat talkative. As long as they’re focused on the game, a little noise is probably expected.