Chess magnet school

Has anybody ever heard of Chess magnet school? If so what do you think of it?

Big help so far.

Where did you hear about this school?

http://chessmagnetschool.com

See site above.

Maybe it's the name of the shcool...

I used the 30 day free trial a couple years ago.  It was plenty of time to go through most of the exercises.  It was OK, but I like Chess Mentor better.

 Are you saying that you can go through EVERYTHING the school offers in just 30 days?

I went through all of the beginning and intermediate problems and sampled some of the advanced sections-all within my 30 day free trial.

It doesn't sound worth a crap, then.

Use your 30 days and decide.  A USCF member can have a year for about $25.  There are some sections that I could have gotten more out of by repeating and maybe going slower, but like I said, I prefer Chess Mentor and Computer Workout.

I'm not a USCF member, but the three extra dollars for a year is no big deal. I just don't want to waste my money on trash, if it's no good. Chess mentor on here is too advanced for beginners, I believe.

dont know that much about the magnet school, but I would pass. its nice to have someone taking you through things step by step, but then why not just pay for private lessons every few weeks and get a plan there?

for me I know what I need to work on.. tactics and a little endgame. thats the thing about the internet and chess these days, is theres so many free resources. for improvement at any level I would just start playing an hour a day on chesstempo, and analysing deeply some of your key games. if the magnet school is teaching basic stuff someone needs to know, theres tons of places to do it for free

I'm not ambitious enough for extremely expensive private lessons, since they would be way more espensive than 30 dollars a year. I'm just trying to get good enough to play an average game. Is chess tempo as good as here?

Chess Magnet School appeared to me to be geared more to scholastic players.  If you find Chess Mentor too advanced, maybe Chess Magnet School would be appropriate for you.  I repeat, use your 30 day free trial and decide.

What would be the difference between an adult who knew little about chess, and a scholastic player, just learning?

I've used it before. It's pretty good.

Maybe not enough to matter.  An analogy might be to compare a pre-algebra text book for college students to a pre-algebra book for middle-school students.  Same subject, but written for different levels of maturity.  Actually, the best bang for the buck for a beginner is the Chessmaster program.  You could probably find Chessmaster 10 for around $10.  Chessmaster is a comprehensive program for the beginner to intermediate player. But once again, use your 30 day FREE trial and decide for yourself.

Thanks to all.

I had a nice conversation with Harlan Lee, the developer of Chess Magnet School, at the Washington State Elementary Chess Championship a few years ago. He is a strong chess player, and very knowledgeable concerning education and chess programs in the U.S. The online training program grew out of work he was doing in the Seattle area. The greater Seattle metropolitan area has produced more than its share of national youth champions, as well as the likes of Yasser Seirawan, and currently Hikaru Nakamura plays for Seattle in the U.S. Chess league. I would not go so far as to say that Chess Magnet School is responsible for this success, but I think it helps that it was developed for and proved successful in a highly competitive environment.

Chess Magnet School has had frequent full-page ads in Chess Life the past few years, as well as ads all over the internet. For the price, I think it is an excellent program.