Any parents of chess players?

[padams]

DS 8 has been playing chess in an after-school program run by a local chess master for the last 2 years. DS has enjoyed playing in tournaments organized by the chess master involving students from the schools where he teaches. DS's school decided not to renew the master's contract for next year because some parents complained that the chess program was too expensive and they couldn't afford it.

We are now looking for another place for DS to play chess. Are any of your children involved in a chess club? Does your child take classes? Does anyone have a private instructor? Does you child play in tournaments? Can anyone explain the ranking system? Are there questions that I should be asking?

Please tell me the ins and outs of being a chess parent. Thank you!
Pamela

 

[powellrj]

My DS has played tournament chess for about 5 years. He plays for his middle school. My suggestion would be to talk to the teacher and see if he can go to one of the other schools and play chess there. I know our local library also has small meets sometimes, you might give them a call. We also play one night a week at a local pizza resturant so you might ask the teacher if that would be an option. We limit our play to close tournaments, no longer than 3 hours away. His team travels by plane several times a year to play, but we never let DS go on these trips. Good luck!

 

[bentley483]

Our elementary school had a chess club. The kids stayed after school one day a week for an hour with teachers and parents who volunteered to teach them how to play and to keep an eye on them. Try to drum up some parental support and talk with the teachers. Maybe, since the kids already know how to play, they would be willing to assist one day a week and keep the school open so the kids can play.

 

[missypie]

DS 13 enjoys chess, but has no one to play with. Other schools in our district have chess clubs, but none that he has attended. The closest chess club would be about 30 minutes away.

 

[shortbun]

Chess Mom here-I even have a T-shirt! Ranking is done by the
USCF after a child is rated. Getting a rating is a choice but if
a child is in third grade and has done consistently well-placing
1-4 in non rated tournaments or class, you might consider getting
a USCF # and the rating follows after several rated matches have been played. There is a provisional rating after the first 5 matches and then a "real" rating after 17-20 matches are played.
There is also a "quick" rating for special tournaments playing
speed chess.
DS is on the chess team(a master volunteers as the coach every Tuesday night) at our school-15 players grades 1-5 and
in the chess club that meets at lunch every other Wednesday depending on where on the ladder you play. We love chess.
It's kinda boring for parents sitting all day at tournaments but
our town has loads of scholastic chess tournaments as does
the state(Ohio) so we all get to know each other and have a little fun. DS is doing a chess camp this summer for advanced players.
It's at one of our parks and soccer is played after lunch and before the second round of chess matches. A few of the players
on our team have coaches. We have several very highly rated
players(nationally) and had the distinction of being the only public school in the top five schools nationally in 2nd and third grade.
Our teams ranked 4th in 2nd and 2nd in third grade. This years
national scholastic tournament is in December at the Dolphin-yep
WDW. I'm really conflicted about it as there is lots of chess and
very little time for play at these tournaments.

We are in a huge public school system. Our school is an alternative school attended by kindergarten lottery. Last year
we had a 96% proficiency pass rate and ranked 1st in the district
in all other proficiency testing. We( the parents) hate these tests and there is always a big push to get the kids relaxed before test time-singing, extra dance and phys ed. The school is informal, very little homework, not so many rules. The teachers are incredibly dedicated and the parent
community involved in unprecedented numbers. Chess is one of
our bragging platforms. We have a giant chess board painted
on the parking lot adjacent to the playground-parents did it. Kids
play chess with HUGE plastic pieces every recess. They play buddy chess-two to a team. There is a beautiful chess table in
the library and children play all day long if they have what's expected of them done.

Good luck finding more chess for your child. I feel it's an excellent way of engaging in competition without violence. I have a bumper
sticker:"Chess: The Intelligent Battlefield"

BTW, Nationals were held in Atlanta last year so you must have a pretty active scholastic chess community.

 

[Az Pirates]

DS 8 wanted to do the after school chess club this year. I said yes - didn't realize all the tournament stuff that went along with it. He loved the club and wanted to do tournaments - but had already signed up for little league and was never able to play in one because of conflicts with his baseball schedule.

I know a couple of the game stores around here sponsor chess teams - maybe you could check into that if the school drops their program.