May 2016 Prodigy Program

Registration for the May 2016 month of the Prodigy Program is open for our 900+, 1200+, 1500+, and 1750+ Elo sections. Newly crowned U.S. Women's National Champion IM Nazí Paikidze will start contributing to the Prodigy Program this month. Registration is open until  11:00 PM PDT on May 6th, 2016. Sign up today and start your journey towards mastery. Read on for details!

*Prodigy Program*

Master Chess at Any Age, Within 5 Years

As our most comprehensive and ambitious course, the Prodigy Program is designed to create chess prodigies out of youth players and take them, or any chess player at any age, to master-level within 5 years. By offering the highest quality of live lessons, study guides, homework, personalized game analysis, and unlimited guidance from our world-class team of coaches, we provide dedicated chess players a clear path to improvement and mastery. The Prodigy Program is for chess players of all ages. If you love chess and want to improve, look no further than the Prodigy Program.

Important Information:

• The May 2016 month of the Prodigy Program is taught by Kairav Joshi, FM Dalton Perrine, FM Arne Jochens, FM Kostya Kavutskiy, GM Alex Yermolinsky, and more!
  
• This month's program offers 12 hours of live lessons (that get recorded so students can review), three detailed study guides, class homework, simuls with masters, online correspondence tournaments, and full email support for students.
• Students may submit two games for emailed analysis by our instructors.
  
• The tuition for May 2016 is $150.
• We offer four rating sections: 900, 1200+, 1500+, and 1750+ Elo.
  
• Program begins on May 7th, 2016 at 10:00 AM PDT and all the live lessons will be taught on the 7th, 8th, 14th, 15th, 21st, and 22nd of May.
  
• Most live lessons are taught somewhere between 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM PDT (Pacific Time). Registered students will receive the full schedule for May by the 8th.
  

Key Areas of Study in May 2016:

900:

• Elementary opening theory for Black: Sicilian, Slav, and more.
• Tactical pattern recognition.
• Reducing blunders.
• Basic attacking and defending plans and ideas.
• Improving at understanding the purpose of different kinds of moves.
• Variety of training to improve chess skills.
• Textbooks: Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman and Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess by Bobby Fischer

1200:

• Simple opening repertoire for Black: Sicilian, Slav, and more.
• Tactical pattern recognition and improving tactical vision.
• Intermediate defensive theory.
• Geometric thinking.
• Various strategic and positional chess topics.
• The power of counterattacking.
• General training for all phases of the game.
  
• Textbooks: Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman and Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman

1500:

• Improving calculation and visualization
• Opening theory for white vs. Sicilian and sideline systems.
• Starting opening repertoire for Black.
• Understanding prophylaxis.
• Understanding what matters most in different types of positions.
• Learning to evaluate positions step-by-step.
• Various strategic and positional topics including piece placement, imbalances, compensation, and more.
• Textbooks: Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman and How to Reassess Your Chess 4th Edition by Jeremy Silman

1750:

• Advanced planning: making position more imbalanced as needed or changing direction of the game based on new circumstances that arise.
• Advanced evaluation by applying structural understanding.
• Advanced endgames (rook vs. two minor pieces, minor piece vs. multiple pawns, etc.) and related training.
• Calculation and thought-process training.
• Textbooks: Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman, How to Reassess Your Chess 4th Edition by Jeremy Silman, and Chess Structures - A Grandmaster Guide by Mauricio Flores Rios

Placement:

Naming of our sections is based on over-the-board Elo ratings. FIDE, USCF, and CFC, for example, use Elo for ratings or something similiar to Elo. Online ratings tend to be inflated, sometimes heavily at the lower rating levels. A 1500 correspondence rating on Chess.com may indicate an actual strength of near 1200 Elo. Keep this in mind when selecting a section. Message GeniusKJ on Chess.com for an evaluation if you are not sure which section to join.

Why Join Prodigy Program?:

• The Prodigy Program is the world's first and only comprehensive online chess learning program. It has been running successfully for over a year now.
• The program is led and taught by world-class coaches who time after time have proven their ability to help take chess players to the next level.
• With detailed study guides, homework assignments, puzzle/quiz videos, game analysis, and guidance all in addition to the live lessons, the amount students learn each month exceeds what they would get out of 20-30 private lessons with other coaches.
• Our rate of $150/month offers unbeatable value.
• Chess.com University students perform exceedingly well at tournaments. A few students have even won thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in prizes at tournaments like the Millionaire Chess Open.
• No long-term commitment is required. Try out the Prodigy Program for one month and start realizing your chess potential.
• The ability to interact with the world's elite chess players. 
• This is the highest quality of chess instruction available. Period. If you truly love chess and want to become a much better player, study in the Prodigy Program.

May 2016 Registration:

1. To sign up for the May 2016 Prodigy Program, follow this link:
   http://shop.chess-university.com/collections/frontpage/products/prodigy-program-may-2016
   
2. Then select your section, click add to cart, and click on the cart icon on the top-right. Click on "Checkout" to send payment.
3. After completing payment, you will be prompted to fill out a student information form. Fill this out if you are a new student. If you don't receive this form after completing payment, message GeniusKJ on Chess.com.
   

Registration Deadline:

Registration for the May 2016 month of the Prodigy Program ends at 11:00 PM PDT on May 6th, 2016. This means, we must receive payment and your student information (via form) by then. We will accept late payments but late registrations won't be processed until a few days later. As lessons also get recorded, students who register late shouldn't have trouble catching up.

Sign up for the Prodigy Program today and start your journey of becoming a chess master.

Contact Chess.com University President Kairav Joshi by sending a message on Chess.com to GeniusKJ or sending an email to kairavjoshi@chess.com.