Partner Program Spotlight: Impact Coaching Network and The Gift of Chess

One of my favorite things about working for ChessKid is getting to meet with all of the great chess programs in the world. Today we are going to highlight Impact Coaching Network (ICN) of New York City.

ICN is at the cutting edge of teaching chess to kids through their utilization of technology and the data it provides. ICN, and its founder Russell Makofsky, has also started a not for profit organization called The Gift of Chess. The main objectives of The Gift of Chess are to give away chess technology (through ChessKid memberships) and physical chess sets to kids.

Here’s what Russ had to say about The Gift of Chess "The Gift of Chess was started to allow all of our kids who had been learning chess virtually during covid the opportunity to explore the game in person through the access to their very own chess set. Allowing them to share the game they love with their friends and family. Looking forward the Gift of Chess is about expanding that opportunity to as many kids as possible. We believe all kids can greatly benefit from learning and playing chess. We also believe that through access and hard work all kids can be great at chess!"

Utilization of Data

These days I believe the truly elite chess programs for kids do not shy away from technology at all. ICN embodies this idea to the fullest. With their ChessKid enterprise account they are able to scrape all of the data that ChessKid provides them for their program!

When I was a classroom chess teacher, the ChessKid leaderboard was the most important tool I had to encourage kids to do their puzzles. It was always the first thing kids saw when they came to my classroom. Being good at chess is 90 percent tactical ability. So it stands to reason the more puzzles you do, the faster you improve as a chess player.

The ChessKid leaderboard for the school I taught at, sorted by puzzles attempted all time. I would show the kids this leaderboard but I would sort it for the past seven days, not all time.

I would share the ChessKid leaderboard, sorted by puzzles attempted for the past seven days (not puzzle rating) to highlight the kids working the hardest on their puzzles. Not only did this show kids that I valued hard work, but it did wonders for their inter team, friendly, competitiveness. Every kid wanted to be shouted out when they did a lot of puzzles and more importantly they wanted to be listed higher on the leaderboard than their peers.

ICN has taken this a step further. On their website (impactcoachingnetwork.org) they’ve scraped the data provided by the leaderboard, report cards, and kid usage stats that ChessKid provides.

Examples of an Enterprise account kid usage stats and a ChessKid report card (also downloaded in .CSV for a group or program of kids).

This allows the kids in the different schools of ICN to see where they stand with data like ChessKid rating and puzzle attempts. The ICN site also shows information like US Chess ratings and a kid's win streak. It is this type of transparency that is not only good for kids to foster healthy competition but also very appreciated by parents who can see that the kids doing more puzzles are the ones higher rated and winning championships!

Just some of the ChessKid data that ICN scrapes from their ChessKid account to show their kids and families. The P+LVW is a composite score of a child's (P)uzzles + (L)essons + (V)ideos + (W)orkouts completed on chesskid.com!

Gift of Chess

At thegiftofchess.org you can find their mission statement. "The Gift of Chess - a not for profit organization - leverages the transformative power of chess by providing elementary school students with access to free chess technology, a free physical chess set, and inclusion into a vibrant chess community."

Their goal is to give away 10,000 chess sets and 10,000 ChessKid gold memberships to 10,000 New York City public school students. To date they have given away 6,300 chess sets!

Russ has asked ChessKid to help him identify schools where the chess sets are appreciated. If you would like to help fund donating chess sets to kids, check out thegiftofchess.org. What a great initiative!

ICN founder Russel Makofsky (center) with students of PS 33 receiving their 500+ chess sets!

All smiles as these kids unbox their chess sets!