Chess for Schools
Southside Chess is a US Chess Federation affiliate that hosts chess clubs, classes, camps, and scholastic tournaments for schools and students in Eugene, Oregon. Since 1993 Southside chess instructors Jerry Ramey and Forrest Ramey have guided elementary, middle school and high school students to more than 75 state titles. Two students have won the national championships and three have achieved the status of Master. Read more...
Upcoming Events
Due to the Coronavirus, Southside Chess has suspended all school chess clubs, accelerated small-group classes and tournaments until the schools reopen.
That being said, we will begin offering online chess classes starting in late June with enrollment options available through the rest of the summer and into the fall! Experimental classes with the video conferencing software 'Zoom' in conjunction with the chess engine 'HIARCS' have had great results. Several parents have commented on the beneficial effects that it had on their children, and even those kids who were tired and bored with the Zoom presentations from their schools were excited and enthusiastic about our online chess.
One key is that our chess engine has an attractive chess board diagram which appears on the students’ screens and allows us to move the pieces around to explore different variations of the chess problems we study. The kids need something interesting to look at, and this fits the bill. We can also cover a lot of ground quickly. It's not clear why so many kids have gotten screen fatigue from their school classes, but it's plausible that the teachers may not have as immersive a tool as our chess engine.
Another factor is the size of classes. School teachers using Zoom are working with large numbers of students, so individual attention, and encouragement is not feasible. Smaller classes allow for a more directed learning environment, and in our experimental classes, we tried class sizes ranging from one to a dozen. It worked best as a private, one-on-one lesson, and after about ten, it became difficult to keep up with what was going on with individual kids or to be able to see their faces. It's nice to have back-and-forth conversations with the kids and to be able to gauge their reactions, therefore, we will have a maximum of 10 kids in a class, with an ideal number being around 6. Individual communication is undoubtedly one of the key factors in why our online chess has been so well received.
It is not entirely out of the question that we may consider in-person camps in August. We will have to wait and see how the Coronavirus situation progresses. If we do in-person camps, they will be held in the mornings only, outside on the patio by the chess studio. Everyone would be required to wear masks, and we will practice other safety precautions. Again, we will just have to wait a bit to make decisions on August camps, as well as a plan for continuing our chess program in the fall. For now at least we have good tools to give high quality chess lessons online, and we intend to offer them going forward, no matter how the pandemic plays out.
That being said, we will begin offering online chess classes starting in late June with enrollment options available through the rest of the summer and into the fall! Experimental classes with the video conferencing software 'Zoom' in conjunction with the chess engine 'HIARCS' have had great results. Several parents have commented on the beneficial effects that it had on their children, and even those kids who were tired and bored with the Zoom presentations from their schools were excited and enthusiastic about our online chess.
One key is that our chess engine has an attractive chess board diagram which appears on the students’ screens and allows us to move the pieces around to explore different variations of the chess problems we study. The kids need something interesting to look at, and this fits the bill. We can also cover a lot of ground quickly. It's not clear why so many kids have gotten screen fatigue from their school classes, but it's plausible that the teachers may not have as immersive a tool as our chess engine.
Another factor is the size of classes. School teachers using Zoom are working with large numbers of students, so individual attention, and encouragement is not feasible. Smaller classes allow for a more directed learning environment, and in our experimental classes, we tried class sizes ranging from one to a dozen. It worked best as a private, one-on-one lesson, and after about ten, it became difficult to keep up with what was going on with individual kids or to be able to see their faces. It's nice to have back-and-forth conversations with the kids and to be able to gauge their reactions, therefore, we will have a maximum of 10 kids in a class, with an ideal number being around 6. Individual communication is undoubtedly one of the key factors in why our online chess has been so well received.
It is not entirely out of the question that we may consider in-person camps in August. We will have to wait and see how the Coronavirus situation progresses. If we do in-person camps, they will be held in the mornings only, outside on the patio by the chess studio. Everyone would be required to wear masks, and we will practice other safety precautions. Again, we will just have to wait a bit to make decisions on August camps, as well as a plan for continuing our chess program in the fall. For now at least we have good tools to give high quality chess lessons online, and we intend to offer them going forward, no matter how the pandemic plays out.
US & World Chess News
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Updated June 16th, 2020
