Location Needs:
- A place where I can hang my demo chess board where all the students can be seated and watch me lecture.
- Enough tables for all students to play chess at the same time. The chess boards are 20"x20" so your standard fold-up tables work great. 6' or better 8' long will accommodate 2 sets and works for Siamese which is a very fun variant that almost everybody loves to play.
- Enough chairs for all students to sit for lectures and while playing chess.
- If we have kids older than say 14, I like to teach kids how to record their games and to do this well requires a white or chalk board I can use.
- If we have a full-blown tournament at the end of the class, see the tournament section for other needs.
- No computers are necessary but a bonus would be a large flat screen PC connectable TV with either an HDMI or VGA connector I can attach my laptop to with Internet conductivity to show some videos or other teaching material. HDMI is best as it includes the sound.
- I have my own boards and clocks and I actually prefer students not to bring their own sets (clocks are ok as I never have enough) because I want them all to have tournament level sets and I don't want to mix up my sets with theirs.
Time Needs:
- Ideally, for young kids under grade 4, is 1 hour max as this is about the longest attention span for them. As the age increases we can go as long as about 2 hours. Adults that want to play deep and slow games could go longer but I have found most people don't want to go that deep.
- The best frequency for classes I have found to be weekly or every other week. Too often doesn't give me time to prepare and too infrequent lets the student's forget too much between lessons.
- My class devolves into a chess-club in about 10 lessons as by then I can only teach deep enough by playing students one-on-one. That's fine, but the rate of progress for students slows way down after that in general and I am not able to bring students to Expert or higher levels. If they start beating me regularly, well then, I become the student.
Cost and Student Requirements:
- I used to do this for free but the amount of travel involved and the prices of gas have caused me to have to charge something so minimum needs are about $10-$30 per class depending on the location from Kooskia (my home) and whether or not I have other classes that day that I can loop in to save gas.
- Class size can be from as few as 4 players to 30. 8 is the ideal minimum if I have to travel beyond Kooskia or Clearwater.
- Cost per student is minimum $5 per student - this keeps them coming for the duration of the class as they have some skin in the game.
- I can do individual lessons or for groups of less than 4 but this will be at a cost of $30/hr minimum.
- Very young students must have a good attention span and be well-behaved.
Tournament Requirements:
- I cannot handle more than about 50 people at a tournament because it takes too long and requires too many sets.
- I usually hold a 5 round swiss format and use my computer to do the pairings.
- Prizes are needed and can be donated or you can give me some cash (usually $200 is adequate) for prices.
- Many prizes are given so that we have lots of winners. We even give a prize for last place!
- There should be adequate parking as parents will likely stay to watch.
- A tournament takes ALL DAY unless it is very small. Don't fool yourself into thinking this can be done in 4 hours.
- Players must know how to use a chess clock, all the rules of chess, chess ettiquite for tournaments such as "touch move" and ideally, for older players, they must be able to write down their moves good enough to help us resolve any disputes.
- Observers must have space to leave the tournament area and not be so crowded in that they cannot observe games from less than 6' away from any board.
- Acoustics should not be too echoy. Gymnasiums work for size but it can be hard to keep things quiet at those venues. I would say mature players will work fine but high-energy young kids in bad accustics can make it difficult.
- Power for my computer.
- Power for my PA system if it is big enough to need it.
- The venue must have nearby food and beverages/water available for breaks and lunch.
- Players will typically endure 6-8 hours of solid chess with a break for lunch so don't push your young ones too hard on attending this event. It really hurts the tournament to have a lot of drop-outs near the end.
- An area for chess players to hang out and analyze games between rounds is a big plus.
The Curriculum:
- We always start the first lesson on the rules of chess - no matter who the students are.
- We then cover how to do checkmates for 2-4 lessons.
- We then cover tactics and some opening theory and how to use chess clocks.
- Siamese (also called bug house) is a fun variant we do for variety and excitement.
- We cover chess etiquette such as "touch move", shaking hands, proper set takedown, using one hand with chess clocks, and how to stay quiet.
- I try to interject lectures on chess ratings, online chess, time formats for clocks, a little chess history and some cultural and spiritual teaching as the opportunity arises. (Ever wonder why the Queen is so powerful but not as important as the King who is practically a cripple in the game?)
- For older or advanced students we will go over some master games with deep commentary.
- I try to run a chess ladder in every class as the student's progress to encourage serious play and competition. Prizes can be involved for the winners.
- A full-blown tournament can be done on the last lesson if desired and gives students a taste of real hard-core tournament chess. This will involve some extra cost.
- I do not allow players to wear masks at my classes or events as this completely defeats the social aspect of the game.
So there you have it. Feel free to call me at 208-301-8615 or email me at [email protected] to set up a class or private lesson.