Discover the smart way to teach chess (Release News #1)

Last week, we released a new version of Chessity and there is more to come over the next few days. Chessity’s September 2018 release is all about making chess easy: easy to learn and easy to teach. In a series of blog posts, we’ll inform you about the changes and how they will help you. Today, release news #1: Chessity’s concise curriculum for scholastic chess.

Chessity has always been a fun and exciting teaching tool. The children use game-based lessons and minigames to learn chess, independent of teacher experience, knowledge or instruction. We have spent the last ten months on designing smart innovations to make it even better. To begin with, the learning path from Pawn to King Level has had a make-over.

Chessity focusses on the needs of chess-in-school programs. In schools and after school chess clubs, chess is used as a means to exercise the brain and help children in their personal development. It is a great means to develop 21st-century skills, like critical and creative thinking, problem solving and social skills. 

The lesson plan is tailored to the needs of chess-in-school projects

If you are teacher, it is not your objective to raise a next generation of chess grandmasters. You want your students to learn and enjoy a game of chess, in a way that keeps them motivated. In a way that allows them to feel that they are making progress quickly and to celebrate success. And the kids? They just want to play: set up the chess boards in the classroom or participate in a school chess competition.

Keeping that in mind, we rearranged our lesson plans. The Pawn to King levels now form a concise chess curriculum tailored to the needs of chess-in-school projects. From the absolute beginning to the level at which a student can also play a nice game at a chess club. Each level is a compact series of lessons, with a clear learning objective.

	"I know enough to play on the board chess. I know how the chess pieces move and I know enough about the rules to enjoy a game. Who knows, I might even win a game or two!
	"I will enjoy participating in a school chess tournament and will definitely win some games!"
	"I am good at winning pieces and I have learned how to play for a win, because I am very good at checkmate. This makes me a strong player in a school chess tournament."
	"I have mastered some tactics in attack and defense that make me particularly strong for a school chess player. Even some club players will have to watch out for me."
	"I have expanded my toolbox of chess attacks considerably: double attacks, discovered attacks, pins and skewers -  these are tactics with which I like to surprise my opponents."
	"I have mastered a search strategy that allows me to apply attacking tactics, even if I don't know which theme to look for. At a chess club they will welcome me with open arms. They’ll probably wonder where I came from :) "

Quick progression, enhanced motivation

When composing the levels, we listened to the wishes of our customers. Schools tell us they need compact levels, so that students can move on in a relatively short time. As a result of students progressing quickly from Pawn to Knight to Bishop level etc., the energy in the classroom remains high, enhancing overall motivation.

Since the last release, all levels* consist of 40 lessons. That is less than before, because we have made it possible to achieve the same goals if far fewer lessons. We succeeded in doing so thanks to the further development of Chessto, our little teaching robot full of artificial intelligence.

Chessto was introduced in November 2017, as a virtual chess teacher that coaches students during a game of chess. Immediately a huge success with teachers and students, it was our number one priority to develop new technology that allow Chessto to play a leading role in the learning process. We are proud to announce that this became effective in the September 2018 release.

Stay tuned

Want to know more about what Chessto does to help students and teachers? Stay tuned for the next blog post in this release news series. It will cover this subject in depth.

* The King level currently has more than 40 lessons. After 40 lessons, this level temporarily contains more difficult lessons, which will later be moved to new higher levels. The first 40 lessons are the actual King level lessons. The lessons that follow are extras.