A mentor that is not a teacher or family member? That's a strange requirement isn't it? I guess they want you to get help from a classmate?
Is it a report or do you have to build something or what? Make knight tour diagram art (art) calculate number of squares (math) history of a player or history of the rules (history). You could get philosophical and talk about how chess went from romantic (sacrifices were the beauty) to dogmatic (Steinitz to Tarrasch vs Nimzowitsch) to Scientific (Botvinnik) to dynamic and pragmatic (present day motto of if it works, use it).
Or touch on each subject a little bit with the point of how chess can be related to many different types of ideas.
Chess related senior project
Well, I do a bit of woodcarving, and 30 hours seems about right for a few chess pieces . . . but not if you're just starting.
You could host a chess tournament at your school--I know that takes a lot of time with organization and advertisements and whatnot. If you want to make it USCF rated, however, you'll have to get a real TD. I suppose you can train to be one yourself, but that will probably take a few months. But you could do a nice, informal chess tournament; maybe drum up some new recruits to the chess team, invite middle and elementary schoolers (you'll probably need to provide a bunch of sets--you can get cheap ones at the dollar store or just ask around). You could make it a family event, even sell refreshments and call it a "fund-raiser" for the school. If you called whoever runs the regular chess tournaments in your area, I'm sure he'd be willing to help you out, maybe even be your "mentor."
I like the school tournoment Idea, but refuse to be a participant, instead be the TD and make sure you mention all rules and be reasonable, friendly, and well yeah, I hosted one between a bunch of friends of mine, I had to fill in the last spot (mainly because My friends said that they wanted the best player they knew in it) I won needless to say, but they had fun.
The project must be a creation, event, service, or exploration, and have a final product. I also need it to include a "learning stretch" (some component has to be something I've never done before. For example, if I had already organized a tournament, I'd need to do something else in addition to just organizing another). The mentor also has to have at least three years of experience in the field or work in it.
I feel as though a tournament is my best bet, but I've never heard of anyone in my area that would qualify as a mentor.
Suggestion is:
"Short treatise on the effect/impact of the internet on chess".
(reference sources, popular sites, etc.)
The project must be a creation, event, service, or exploration, and have a final product. I also need it to include a "learning stretch" (some component has to be something I've never done before. For example, if I had already organized a tournament, I'd need to do something else in addition to just organizing another). The mentor also has to have at least three years of experience in the field or work in it.
I feel as though a tournament is my best bet, but I've never heard of anyone in my area that would qualify as a mentor.
Have you ever been to your local chess club? If it's a relatively popular and large-scale club, maybe there's somebody there who would be willing to help you.
Macer75: I don't believe there is any local chess club. I run the one at my school with another senior, but in my town and surrounding ones there is no local event organization
Do you participate in rated USFC tournaments? If so, just contact whoever organizes those. And I'm sure your mentor just needs 3yrs experience in something similar to tournament organization. Maybe you can ask the debate teacher, or math club sponsor (I don't know about you, but math is HUGE at my school), or some other teacher that organizes tournaments for another club. If you have a Cub Scout pack near you, they have lots of contests like Pushmobile and Pinewood Derby that require a lot of organization. Maybe it doesn't even have to be a tournament--find a local church member that organizes luncheons, or someone at the local library that organizes "teen social events."
How did you start getting into chess? There had to be some pre-existing culture.
And HAVE you ever done something like organize a tournament before?
No I don't do USCF events. I can't ask any teachers to be a mentor. I could ask one of those local people though. I got into chess from my parents teahcing me and playing a ton with one of my friends that shares the same story. He and I, now with our chess club, is the only "culture" we've been exposed to. And yes, I've organized a tournament, I know I can do another. I just don't know if it'll be much of a project that I'll get a good grade on
Put together a short ebook on something simple like basic opening principles or something. Can be like 20 pages. Offer it up on Amazon. Find your mentorship anywhere along that continuum from idea to finished product where you need help: with the chess stuff, with the writing, with the graphical content, or with the graphic design. Take credit yourself for what you can contribute, get the mentor for what you struggle with. The actual act of putting it up for sale there is so simple a monkey could do it, and takes like ten minutes.
If one of the requirements is "The mentor also has to have at least three years of experience in the field or work in it" do you know any potential friends or tribal elders that can mentor in a chess-relate project?
It's a kid, asking for help.
Is it impossible for you to realize that this isn't the place for lonely and desperate middle aged men to troll?
Hey Gamesaremylife. I am in the same boat as you were, one or two years ago (I can't tell by the context of your writing if you were a proactive junior or a procastinating senior). I am a sophomore, so I still have time. But I am curious about what you did for yor project. Did you stick with the chess related topics or did you find interest in something else and based your senior project on it?
Physical project (like carving a chess set) or intellectual project (like a finding new way of solving chess puzzles)? If you're interested in intellectual projects with a math/computer bent, there is *much* still to be discovered in chess that relates to fields of science.
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/anybody-want-to-do-a-science-project-on-chess
you could do a write up on how chess engines work. you would learn something about AI, and computer programming. There's also the historical aspect, with the deep blue matches and all.
You could do a project on why people like to play chess. Competition, adrenalin rush, intellectual stimulation, tempory escape from life's problems etc., etc.
Get on internet chat rooms where people discuss chess.
you could do a write up on how chess engines work. you would learn something about AI, and computer programming. There's also the historical aspect, with the deep blue matches and all.
As I understand it, a senior project typically requires direct experience in the topic, which makes it different from only a written paper.
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"Typically the project consists of choosing a topic of interest, writing a research paper on that topic, having an experience directly related to the topic, keeping a journal of artifacts demonstrating your work, followed by the final step which is a presentation (US Dept of Education)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culminating_project
Hello. I am a senior in high school and am seeking a project that I can do based upon chess. The requirements for the project are that it includes at least 30 hours of work and is guided by a mentor that is not a teacher or family member. I have a next-to-zero dollar budget, so I don't believe I can hire a master or anything like that. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated