Organizing a chess club meeting

The MadWash chess club meetings last 40 minutes.

Doors open five minutes before the actual meeting begins. During the five minutes before the lesson begins, I play a games from the "famous games" database on ChessMaster 10. There is a feature in Chessmaster that allows the computer to play through a game without the user having to control anything. It's like watching a movie of a chess game. Chessmaster 10 has three animated chess boards that I use to play through the famous games. Kids LOVE the animated games. I think that for some, the famous game is their favorite part of chess club.

I try to start the lesson as soon as the chess club meeting officially begins, although the kids usually want to continue watching famous games. I spend the first ten to fifteen minutes of the meeting teaching a new chess concept to the group. After that, the kids play tournament games. The tournament involves playing one game per week and lasts throughout the entire chess season.

I use a program called SwissSys to track the chess club tournament games. I divide the club into three groups; beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each group is entered into SwissSys as a section and the software pairs the players in each round. I post wall charts, pairings, and standings in the room each week to get the players accustomed to reading them. The only game that counts toward the tournament is the first one that the kids play each week. When games finish I simply pair those who want to continue playing with others who need a partner. These games do not count toward the tournament but much learning takes place during them.

The season-long tournament is really messy. I usually have to repair the sections each week because of the club members who do not come. Entering the data is challenging, too. Those who do not play receive a forfeit loss but I have to be careful not to delete them from the roster when I enter the result into the computer. I also promote chess players into higher sections throughout the year which further complicates the sections and tournament mess. All-in-all, the benefits of running a tournament throughout the chess club season outweighs the logistical headaches that sometimes pop up.

Here's a video link on how to use "famous games" from Chessmaster (click on the picture)