What's The ChessKid Triple Play?

You probably know some ways to have children use ChessKid.com at home. Perhaps you also use ChessKid.com during your school club meetings. But why not use ChessKid.com at tournaments?

It's the triple play!

Recently, I did just that. ChessKid.com was the perfect resource to give my students a positive experience at a local event.

The new ChessKid t-shirt design! Coming to a local event near you.

Here's how:

1. At the 2015 NC State Scholastic Chess Championship, kids from my local program gathered in a team room. We began the day with everyone solving 10 puzzles before the first round.

Most kids had a smartphone or tablet. We also had a mini-projector and laptop open for those that preferred to solve puzzles as a team and build unity.

Tablets "trick" kids into thinking they are playing instead of learning! This girl is learning from our newly updated Android app. Our overhaul of the iOS app will be done by mid-March!

Another great invention: puzzle races! Have kids try to see who can solve five puzzles first. Or, if you are skilled at chess, "race" the kids with your higher rating!
At the K-12 Nationals in Orlando in December, crowds of kids gathered to watch U.S. Women's Champion GM Irina Krush race ChessKid author "Mousetrap" in puzzles.
Some chess players have "sass" but this is SAS, the world's leader in analytical software (sounds like corporate chess!) and main sponsor of the 2015 NC State Scholastic Championship!

2. A few kids that I know were nervous needed a confidence boost. I'd call up one of their recent wins by looking at their report card, then I'd show off a brief portion of their game. Kids love when they're in the spotlight!

The recorded version of FunMasterMike is more interesting than the real FunMasterMike! That's kids these days Cool.

3. Before each round, we'd always gather around the projector 15 minutes before the round and watch a video together. This gets them thinking about chess again after some time running around and being silly.

FunMasterMike (in the yellow) getting his kids ready for one of the rounds.

Usually I'd choose which video to display based on trends I was seeing while analyzing their games. When the author asks the viewer to pause, we would try to solve the question together.

The more recent videos with animations and sound effects put their mind at ease, since this almost guarantees laughter before a game. 

Also guaranteeing laughter: this kid with a king up his nose!

4. The videos also become my assistant teacher. An example: I reviewed a game from a top student, rated around 1000, who didn't understand how to play against an isolated queen pawn (maybe you don't know either!). 

I gave him some pointers, then I searched for videos of the same topic and messaged him on ChessKid with the links. He went over and sat with his iPad and watched this ChessKid video that I assigned him, then to my pleasant surprise he clicked on all the "related links" to watch the other five videos in the series.

Believe it or not, this opening could have been the "Frankenstein-Dracula Opening" (its real name!). Yes, we have videos on it!

The beauty of this "teachable moment" was that it didn't take up any more of my time (I had a dozen other games to review) and he enjoyed learning about the idea without dwelling on the mistakes that he made personally.

You don't even have to know our video library that well -- just typing in "isolated" in our search bar will get you all of our videos on the subject!

5. After the tournament is over, ChessKid can still be a great resource. You can start a forum in your club announcing the winners, or asking kids to write about their favorite moment.

It's clear what these first-graders' favorite moment was.

Did you have a kid overperform but still not win an award? You can give that kid a trophy on ChessKid with a private message on how proud you are. Imagine being a kid, logging on, and seeing that from a coach!