Learn how to play chess starting with the basics and moving on to tactical ideas and tools that will have you checkmating your mates in no time!

This free course is aimed at beginners and will build a strong foundation of tactical ideas, principles and checkmating patterns so that you can develop your own style of play.

Course structure and ethos

Attendees will spend most of the session time playing; this is not going to be a lecture series.
Instead, the attendees will primarily learn concepts through tailored mini-games and group puzzle exercises. No one wants to finish school for the day only to attend an hour-long lecture about the importance of pawn structures!

Of course, there will still be some spoken instruction, but this course aims to minimise this to keep attendees immersed in gameplay and pushing themselves to develop and improve. The goal is to develop intuition rather than simply ingrain rote learned theory.

We will have 6 golden rules of chess, which underpin an environment of respect and it is therefore safe to try something new to see what works and what doesn't - therefore we can all safely explore why it did or did not work.

“You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win.”
— Jose Capablanca

Course times and registration

The course is open to kids and teens aged 8 - 15, who have little or no experience playing chess and are looking for a good place to start.

Due to limited class sizes, registrations are essential!

Registrations for this term are open

Te Awamutu Library will be running sessions on Tuesdays from 3.45 - 4.45 with a few minutes of packdown at the end of the session. First session on Tuesday 14th

Cambridge Library will be running sessions on Wednesdays from 6.00 - 7.00 with a few minutes of packdown at the end of the session. First session on Wednesday 15th

To register, email me at joe.poultney@waipadc.govt.nz with the following information:

• Participant name
• Participant age
• Which class you wish to join (Te Awamutu or Cambridge)

I will get back to you to confirm your spot in the programme.

Please be aware that if the attendee is under 14 years of age, a parent or responsible adult must be onsite for the duration of the course. If the attendee is under 12, they must be supervised.