Chess in the Time of Remote Learning

Greetings to all of the ChessKids, families, coaches, and teachers out there. We hope you are safe and well. This year, every month has felt new. Between the traveling, the new shows, the translations, and the events--it has been a wild ride since 2020 began. But this time, when we say the last few months have felt "a little crazy," it takes a different tone.

It is difficult figuring out how to bring things we enjoy into the structure of our lives right now. We are not simply "learning from home," we are attempting to learn while enduring a very real crisis that affects us all uniquely. Chess has many meanings for people around the world: as a tool of learning, education, connection, and joy. In whatever way we can, we hope we can help in bringing it to you. Here are some things we have been up to & resources you can draw from.

             

Tournaments and Online Events

There are helpful new how-to articles on the website about running Chesskid events online and chess activities to try with kids at home! And if you ever need another lesson, we have an archive of our video tutorials.

To accommodate the increasing demand for events and programming, we have created a roster with a host of new additions, which can be viewed at this calendar. "Home from School" tournaments are a great way to get kids at home engaged with activities that involve their peers. The "Mighty Monthly Matchup" will be the largest ChessKid event of the month, held on the first Tuesday. Episodes of BeatFunMasterMike will air this upcoming week. All of these and more will be streamed on Chess.com/TV. 

The Coach's Guide

Longtime coach and ChessKid user Christina Schweiss recently penned this piece explaining how she has used ChessKid to connect with students at home. After school closures commenced, they began to hold a variety of tournaments online, issue puzzle challenges, and run a fast chess leaderboard. They have transitioned their club ladder onto the website, much to the delight of students who did not want to see their progress erased.

Schweiss offers a format for how to continue students' training as seamlessly as possible. She also discusses the ways in which parents and teachers have reacted. She writes the following: 

Every action we have taken to replicate normal chess activities for the kids online has received rave reviews from parents and teachers, saying it meant the world to the kids. Now it's not even about the chess itself . . . what is important now is providing the kdis with a sliver of normalcy and a small sense of security they so badly need with their worlds being turned upside down.

A Few Lighthearted Things

Have you seen the #StayHomePlayChess competition? Be sure to check it out on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We want to see our ChessKid community home, safe, and learning chess together! A few of our favorite photos will win a gold membership for child and parent.  

Not entering the competition? We also have discounted gold memberships worldwide for you. This promotion will last until the end of April. We know learning from home isn't always easy, but we hope this helps! It comes with a free gold membership for your parent account.

To our ChessKid community: We want to hear from you! What do you want to see from us? What can we do better? Reach us at support@chesskid.com, or find us on social media. We're all ears👂