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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!