FREE Private Lessons with Kobe We are thrilled to offer FREE private chess lessons with our talented coach, Kobe, as part of our ongoing commitment to making quality chess education accessible to all! 1. General Information Lessons are currently held as follows: Saturdays, 2:00-3:00 PM at DJCC before our regular club meetings Saturdays, 1:00-2:00 PM at Subiaco Library (when there is no club meeting) Sundays, 2:30-3:30 PM at Subiaco Library These lessons are one-on-one to ensure that each student receives personalized attention. Even students at similar skill levels have unique learning styles and needs, so we focus on individual progress. We also aim to minimize distractions, such as peer-to-peer chatting during lessons. Currently, these free private lessons are exclusively available to our club members due to Kobe's limited availability. However, we are working on expanding the program with more volunteers to offer additional slots in the future. 2. Why It’s Free At DJCC, we belie...
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Mailing List Guidelines Anyone inquiring about our club meetings via email, phone call, or in person will be automatically added to our mailing list. Additionally, we maintain attendance records for each club meeting, which we CC to Dalkeith Baptist Church. Individuals who inquire about our club meetings but consistently fail to attend for three consecutive sessions will be removed from our mailing list. Similarly, those who have attended meetings but then ceased attendance for more than 5 or 10 sessions (depending on their prior frequency of attendance) will also be removed accordingly. Children who, for various reasons, interrupt their attendance at club meetings are always welcome to return at any time. They can do so by checking the calendar on our club website: DJCC - Calendar (google.com). However, it's important to note that once removed from our mailing list, they will no longer receive weekly or bi-weekly updates via email. This practice ensures the effective organi...
View from an Unchessable Parent Q&A 5 — the highs, the lows, and the challenge When your child dives into a hobby completely different from yours, it's like opening a window in an otherwise stagnant life. Suddenly, you're thrust into a whole new world of knowledge, a vibrant social circle, and even a different approach to learning. These experiences broaden your horizons and enrich your understanding of life in ways you never imagined. Life is an adventure. Despite the different paths we take, we all end up in the same place eventually, much like a fly that darts away from a window but finds itself circling back to where it began. Striving to make that circle bigger, and experiencing more along the way, that's what makes life worthwhile. Over the past two years, as Kobe delved deeper into chess, we've met fascinating people within the chess community and received incredible support. Those tiny chess pieces have become a huge amazing medium for us to connect, reveali...
View from an Unchessable Parent Q&A 4 -- Advantages of Being an Unchessable Parent What are some aspects that an "unchessable" parent might find easier to navigate than a parent who plays chess? Firstly, due to differing levels of engagement in this activity between you and your child, you are more likely to approach chess from a distinct perspective. For instance, in my observations, chess enthusiasts often derive satisfaction from competitive victories. While you may not place as much emphasis on winning or losing, this enables you to offer alternative viewpoints to your child when they experience either overconfidence or deflation due to outcomes. You can help them avoid fixating too heavily on immediate results. Furthermore, you can more readily acknowledge the journey from initial ignorance to achieving a few victories, compared to their past selves. Consequently, you can better recognize these positive feedback loops, expressing gratitude for progress rather than su...
View from an UNchessable Parent Q&A 3 -- Useful Chess App - ChessKid.com We've tried a few chess apps, but we always feel that ChessKid is the most suitable app for juniors. Although its name includes "kid," it is not only for beginners. Kobe still uses it every day, doing puzzles and advancing to the level of King. Believe it or not, even though her ACF and FIDE ratings are already above 1500, theoretically making her a semi-professional player, she doesn't always breeze through every challenge. So, we believe that this app can definitely cover the practice needs of most non-professional players. What makes it suitable for junior players is not its difficulty level, but rather its curriculum design and communication style, which are more tailored to kids' learning habits and interests. It's more lively and engaging, helping children learn difficult and sometimes dull concepts in a fun environment without even realising it. Below is the app user review wri...
View from an UNchessable Parent Q&A 2 -- The support you can provide As a parent who doesn't play chess myself, what's the best way to support my child if I notice they're interested in chess? Firstly, it's important to recognise that a child without prior exposure to chess, despite any beginner's luck they may have, will likely start at a disadvantage compared to those who have family members to play with or attend schools with a strong chess tradition. She might be better than those who lack talent but work hard or those who have talent but don't work hard, but she won't be stronger than those who have both talent and work hard. While they may occasionally win against professionally trained children, these victories are often due to chance. As I mentioned earlier, chess outcomes are often one-off events, which is why decisive matches between top players like Ding Liren and Nepo can extend to 14 classic chess games plus rapid chess. It's not very ac...
View from an UNchessable Parent Q&A 1 -- Success in Chess Have you ever wondered if only parents with experience and interest in chess can better support their children's interest in the game? Undoubtedly, if parents enjoy chess themselves, the role models and daily practice support they provide to their children are invaluable. However, every family has its unique dynamics. If, by chance, you have no interest in chess or if time constraints prevent you from supporting your child's interest in chess in the best possible way you think, it's okay. You are not alone. I'm Rosa, Kobe's mum, and I don't play chess at all due to my personality—I'm not a fan of adversarial games that always make me nervous and not enjoyable. I have other hobbies, though, like music, reading, and writing. But Kobe has consistently thrived in chess, and my lack of skill in the game hasn't dampened her natural talent and enthusiasm for it. So, I don't think you have to be a...