LEARN CHESS IN 3
Our Story
Coach Mac, CEO Start Right Chess, Inc: I got thrown into the deep end of teaching chess in 2015 at a charter school network in Harlem that included chess in its core curriculum. Asked why she valued chess so highly, the network’s CEO replied, “Because chess is thinking.” We couldn’t agree more.
However, already during my teacher training back then it struck me as odd—even newsworthy—that there was no widely-recognized pedagogy for introducing chess to beginners! After all, over half a billion people play chess, and there are more resources devoted to chess improvement than to almost any other human endeavor. But fewer than one percent of those resources address the first hurdle: learning how chess pieces move. As a result, most would-be chess players get bored or frustrated before they get to the magic.
Our Method
We focus on the vital first steps of the journey. (In fact, we have grown along with our students to provide a complete environment for chess mastery, but we are still mission-driven to be the world’s most effective on-ramp for chess.)
Key components of our innovative method include:
(1) Story. The human brain is wired to learn through stories, which help organize information in memorable ways. We use three colorful vignettes in three sessions that comprise a complete and memorable introduction to the game.
(2) Laser Beams. Chess pieces have laser beams—invisible laser beams that control the chessboard! Most players just see where the pieces are. But good and great players “see” the laser beams. We teach our students to see the laser beams.
(3) Efficiencies. We have identified “efficiencies” in chess—chess skills that pack together large quantities of mutually-reinforcing information in an otherwise streamlined manner. We teach these important skills right from the start. Students learn better by thinking than by memorizing!
Sign Up
FAQ available below.
Sign up for 3 zoom sessions
(one-time payment covers all three sessions)
You will receive a scheduling link to set up your first private Zoom session immediately upon receipt of payment. Please contact us if you have not received the email within one hour.
Sign up for 3 In-Person Sessions
(one-time payment covers all three sessions)
To schedule your first lesson, call or text us at (917) 525-9561.
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FAQ
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Yes, we have a great in-person option in Manhattan. And we’re adding other boroughs and metro areas soon. BUT we charge 2-3 times more for in-person lessons, AND there are surprising dvantages to learning chess online!
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It’s true: a lot of online learning is awkward. And online learning really only became “a thing” with Covid; so online learning is still associated by many people with an international plague and a crisis in education! (Kids going on Zoom in 2020 was a disaster!) BUT it turns out that chess is well-suited to online learning. Reasons for this include:
Over 95% of chess games are now played online;
Computers transition instantly through an unlimited number of chess positions;
Computers can track, record, and otherwise assess student performance, and
Online chess boards can be annotated in real time.
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You could say that chess pieces have laser beams—invisible laser beams that control the chessboard. Online platforms allow instructors and students to quickly draw (and erase) very helpful lines and other annotations in a way that is not possible with a 3D physical chess board.
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Students will need a desktop, laptop with an external mouse, or an iPad to participate. Of these, we strongly recommend participation on a desktop or laptop with an external mouse simply because an iPad cannot facilitate Zoom video while screen sharing with instructors. An external mouse is important on a laptop because it is otherwise difficult, especially for children, to fluidly move virtual chess pieces with only a laptop’s touchpad. However, an iPad will do if necessary.
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Not great. Even Magnus Carlsen, the GOAT of chess, didn’t show much promise immediately. But you will have a better sense of the power of the pieces and be better than most others playing their first games of chess. And you will have a strong foundation for continuing your chess journey.
“A breakthrough in chess education”