Chicago youth had the opportunity to attend one of three free chess camps this summer sponsored by the Chicago Chess Foundation.

The week-long, five-hour-a-day camps were coordinated throughout the city, with the northside camp at the end of June, and westside and southside camps in July.

Adam Geisler organized the camps and serves as both a CCF Board Member and the organization's programming committee chairperson. Geisler is a Chicago Public School teacher and the coach of the successful Bateman Elementary School club which regularly competes as a team in scholastic tournaments.

According to the ChicagolandChess.org website, the CCF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to “give every student in Chicago the opportunity to learn, play, and compete in chess at low or no cost.” 

As the final days of summer tick away, Geisler offered some perspectives on the role the Foundation is filling in the nation's third largest city.

ICA Editor: I understand the CCF was busy this summer with some chess training for the kids. What was the nature of the camps?

Geisler: The Foundation’s summer camps were designed to provide free, high quality chess instruction to Chicago area students, along with ample opportunities to play chess games, and explore the game in other creative ways.  We ran three different camps that were located across different areas of the city.  Each camp had an hour and a half of instruction, followed by some open play time, and other related activities.  The children also designed their own chess sets using clay and foam board.  In two of the camps, students used the website chesskid.com for some additional online experience. 

ICA Editor: What kind of things were the students learning?

Geisler: The children were organized into two or three sections depending on their prior experience.  Some of the beginners started from the basics of the pieces and their moves, while the intermediate players learned and applied tactics.  The more advanced players analyzed famous games, and dove deep into chess strategy.

ICA Editor:  What kind of support did you receive from the chess community to help bring these camps off?

Geisler: We had the privilege of working with some excellent instructors at all three camps, including brothers IM Arjun Vishnuvardhan and FM Gauri Shankar, IM Florin Felecan, Will Grandberry, and Radoslav Nikolov.  We were also honored to have the help of Chicago Chess Center members Bill Brock and Chris Christmas.  We would also like to acknowledge the volunteer efforts of Elizabeth Ortiz at Evergreen Academy and Meghan Quigley at Nobel Elementary.

ICA Editor: What lessons were learned for future camps?

Geisler: One lesson learned in our organizing is that most city of Chicago chess programs wrap up their activities well before the end of the school year.  This caused us to have some difficulty contacting coaches and confirming students who could attend the camps.  We intend to promote the camps earlier in the spring to help build our rosters and give more students the opportunity to participate.  We also would like to standardize our curriculum and teaching method recommendations to ensure more consistency across the camps.

ICA Editor: What's next for the CCF?

Geisler: The Foundation will continue developing its Rook, Rattle, and Roll program in Chicago elementary schools.  This initiative is centered around providing material and mentoring support to schools that are new to chess.  We are continuing to raise funds for this and other program goals, including but not limited to partnering with the Youth Chess Foundation of Chicago to run free monthly tournaments in the city, and implementing a Fellows program that will provide tiered coaching opportunities for school-based clubs and teams to become more competitive. 

If your organization, school, or family would like to get involved with the CCF in some way, contact information is available on the ChicagolandChess.org website.