If you are not already registered in a program and part of our C&O information network please fill out our Information Form to ensure prompt notification of chess information and events relative to your children's scholastic chess program or individual progress.  Remember, E-mail and Chess.com 'Messages' are our direct link to you.  Information sent home through the schools does not always arrive in a timely fashion.

    If you have any problems with the links or the programs, please contact us.

Program Objectives

    Our scholastic chess programs are oriented toward students of beginner and intermediate skill level.  Many parents are already aware of the variety of benefits for their children from participation in an organized chess program that includes instruction and study as well as play.  There are many free curriculum summaries and printouts on our "Students I & II" pages.  We welcome suggestions for topics of interest or questions about any aspects of our programs.

As teachers, we at C&O have several objectives:

1.     All participants should have fun.  Chess at its most basic level is simply a game to be enjoyed. This enjoyment is essential to students' continued participation in organized chess and advancement to ever higher skill levels.  

2.     All students should have the opportunity to develop their chess skills as far as they can.  Toward that end we provide study materials appropriate to different levels of understanding and mastery as well as access to a great practice site, Chess.com (C.c), for informal and serious practice with coaches, classmates and other C&O chess students,.  Chess "Levels" vary and are not a function of age or grade.  Chess.com provides a variety of "results based," numerical ratings, to guide one's progress in different areas.

3.     Students should be made aware of their progress (or lack of) in such a way as to help correct problems or to seek more challenging competition.  This is the purpose of our estimated club-rating system and the performance-based Chess.com ratings.  Club-ratings allow us to make fair pairings, challenging to both players, and to determine the kinds of individual instruction that may be needed.  Our club and C.c-ratings are loosely analogous to "official" USCF ratings and many of our students also have these.

4.     We believe parents should have access to our teaching materials and other information that will help them to understand (and assist in) their children's progress. We welcome volunteers with some basic knowledge of chess in our programs, and are always seeking coaches and/or parents interested in part-time paid positions.  Parents are encouraged to use the free Learn To Play feature on Chess.com, and access our own downloads on the Students I  and Students II web-pages, here on our site. Parents are also encouraged to create their own accounts on C.c to improve their own knowledge and assist their children.  Parents should monitor their children's use of, and progress on C.c.

    On our student pages we list things that we expect each student to do and items they should have at home, or bring to class, each week.  While we support parent efforts to oversee this aspect of chess club we want to encourage you to help your children meet these responsibilities on their own, as much as possible. We also reqire that parents register their children on Chess.com so that they may participate in regular practice when not in class. C.c accounts should have a parental E-mail as contact, NOT a school, or child's E-mail!  Each Chess.com user must have a separate account with a different adult E-mail.

    We link most of our classroom study materials to the "Student Pages" of this website. Portions of our Chess Journal and other supplementary materials are currently available to you and your children as .pdf files for direct download. Additional materials may be added as they are published. We will no longer make them available as in-class handouts on a regular basis since they are now available as .pdf downloads/printouts.  You should help your students become familiar with the process of opening and printing these publications. The materials are copyrighted and intended for personal use only.  Parents, teachers, and coaches are welcome use these materials, as well. We hope that teachers and coaches who find the materials useful will obtain written permission for reproduction (available from the center for a small donation).