ChessKid Goes to Camp!

ChessKid.com swept the nation this summer! Many camps around the country used our website before, during, and after their camps to make them even more exciting.

We gave away hundreds of t-shirts, thousands of pencils, and zillions of bits of knowledge!

Using the club leaderboard function, teachers were able to have contests to see who could gain the most rating points or solve the most puzzles.

Matches were played between clubs, and during lunch, some kids even watched ChessKid videos during their break -- that's dedication!

Below are some of the chess camps that used ChessKid, and even a sneaky ChessKid video author or two getting some face time! Cool We think you'll be able to spot them.

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Kim Troff of TNT Chess Camp in Salt Lake City, Utah had the largest collection of ChessKids:

If her last name is familiar, that's because her teenage son, Kayden, just became a grandmaster, and has written a few articles for ChessKid!

These kids might become grandmasters too, but at this moment, they're just being silly kids:

WIM Carolina Blanco, who was once the best woman in her native Venezuela, took time out from being an orthodontist to host a camp in Atlanta, Georgia.

Here she is at the awards ceremony, with ChessKid.com on the Smart Board behind her:

If you see her, she'll either be teaching you chess, or giving your braces. Which do you prefer? Surprised

Here's Steven Vigil of the Orlando Chess and Games Center in Florida.

Notice how he has as many girls as boys -- isn't that nice to see!

Crossing back to the Rocky Mountains, Victor Lopez of Learners Chess Academy in Albuquerque, New Mexico has seen his program bloom from a side project into a full-fledged organization.

Here his students show off their favorite piece:

Jennifer Christianson has been leading Castle Chess Camp at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia for many years. The camp is so popular that there is a minimum rating of 1100 just to get in! The top ChessKids are often masters.

Dr. Fun Fong is not only a medical doctor, he's also the camp vice-president and a pretty good photographer:

But wait, who's this in the next picture? None other than FunMasterMike! That's right -- come to Castle Camp next year and you'll get to learn from him in person. It looks like he wants you to focus on your Dragon bishop!

We've saved the most professional photographs for last.

Jennifer Skidmore ran the Knight Relocation Camp in Ann Arbor, Michigan and one of her counselors took these photos of proud t-shirt winners:

Frequent ChessKid.com video author GM Bryan Smith taught there, as did this next author. Can you guess which grandmaster was getting checkmated here?

Oh no! Maybe Benzoo should watch the series on The Weakest Square!

Thanks to all the organizers who partnered with us this summer.

If you're an organizer running a large event (festival, tournament, etc.) and you'd like to see if ChessKid can take part, please send us a message!  [email protected]