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 this vital first step 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.
Sign up for 3 In-Person Sessions
(one-time payment covers all three sessions)
You will receive a scheduling link to set up your first private in-person session immediately upon receipt of payment.
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 much more for in-person lessons, AND there are surprising, huge advantages to learning chess online!
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It’s true: a lot of online learning is icky. Moreover, online learning only became “a thing” with Covid; so online learning is still subliminally associated by many people with an international plague and a crisis in education! (Kids going on Zoom in 2020 was a disaster!) Not a good first date. BUT it turns out that chess is brilliantly well-suited to online learning! Reasons for this include:
Over 95% of chess games are now played online;
Computers can 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.
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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 very. (Even Magnus Carlsen, the GOAT, 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 very first games of chess. Moreover, you will have a terrific foundation for continuing your chess journey.
“A breakthrough in chess education”