Class Instruction

Group Lesson Goals

1. Develop critical thinking skills: Chess is a game of strategy and requires players to think several moves ahead. Through our lessons, we aim to help children develop critical thinking skills that they can apply to other areas of their lives.
2. Improve decision-making abilities: Chess requires players to make decisions based on limited information, a skill that can be challenging but essential for success. We aim to help children improve their decision-making abilities through our lessons.
3. Build a strong foundation in chess fundamentals: To become a successful chess player, it’s essential to have a strong foundation in the game’s basic principles, such as opening theory, tactics, and endgame strategies. Our lessons will focus on building this foundation for children, and provide in-person practice opportunities including uscf-rated tournaments to measure their progress.
4. Foster a love for the game: Chess can be a challenging game, but it can also be a lot of fun! We want to help children develop a love for the game by making our lessons engaging and enjoyable, the 2-hour in-person class will bring more chess fun for the kids and help them make friends each other.
5. Encourage sportsmanship and fair play: Chess is a game that requires players to demonstrate good sportsmanship and fair play, even when they lose. We will practice them in our internal training matches.
6. Help children set and achieve goals: Chess is a game that rewards persistence and hard work. Through our lessons, we aim to help children set achievable goals and work towards achieving them.
7. Provide opportunities for competition: We aim to provide children with opportunities to participate in competitions and gain confidence in their abilities.
8. Develop problem-solving skills: Chess requires players to solve complex problems and make difficult decisions. Through our lessons, we aim to help children develop problem-solving skills that they can apply to other areas of their lives.
9. Improve concentration and focus: Chess is a game that requires players to focus and concentrate for extended periods. Our lessons will focus on helping children improve their concentration and focus skills.
10. Teach life skills: Chess can teach children valuable life skills such as patience, perseverance, and the ability to handle defeat gracefully.

Group Lesson Format

1. The students will be divided into 3 groups, catering to beginners / intermediate / advanced level students.
2. Each session will consist of eight lessons, including 6 one-hour online lessons via Zoom and 2 two-hour in-person lesson (workshop), held at a location in Culver City, 90230.
3. The two-hour in-person lesson will focus on internal training matches and game analysis, and cover advanced OTB tournament skills, including time management.
4. At the end of the session, each student will receive a free entry to a USCF-rated monthly chess tournament, allowing them to apply and showcase the skills they learned during the lessons.

Group A: Beginner Level

(recommended rating: 0 – 400)

The Beginner Class is designed to teach students basic principles, the history of chess, how to solve tactics, learn about the opening, basic middle and endgame ideas. Simple plans and strategies will be shown along with famous games to further understand concepts.

Group B: Intermediate Level

(recommended rating: 400 – 800)

The Intermediate class is designed to teach students key concepts in the opening and middlegame, as well as improve their tactical awareness and understanding of sacrifices and initiative. Famous games that highlight each concept will be taught and explained to further deepen students’ understanding.

Group C: Advanced Level

(recommended rating: 800+)

The advanced class is designed to keep building upon your existing knowledge of chess and help you develop more advanced strategies and tactics to elevate your game. We’ll cover topics such as opening theory, middle game planning, endgame technique, and positional play. You will be guided through interactive lessons, practice games, and analysis to help you improve your skills and confidence on the board. Whether you’re preparing for a tournament or just looking to take your game to the next level, this advanced group lesson is the perfect opportunity to sharpen your skills and have fun playing chess!

NOTE:

• The online instruction (including zoom links) will be sent out after booking this camp successfully.
• We recommend all students to have a US Chess member to measure the improvements by ratings. If you don’t have it yet, you can register a US Chess member here.
• If you don’t know your child’s chess level, we will evaluate at the first class, and we will move him to the group as appropriate.
• All students will be offered a free entry at the end of session to attend ICEA Chess@The Wende Monthly USCF-Rated Chess Tournament, and the games will be analyzed by the coach.
• Recorded video will be provided if you missed any online class.
• One make-up is available if you missed an in-person class (Workshop).
• All registration is not refundable.

Class Schedule:

Note: There will be no class in following weeks due to the chess tournaments that all Coaches will participate,

• National Open Chess Tournament (In Las Vegas): June 14 – June 18
• 51th Annual World Open (In Philadelphia): June 30 – July 4

Price:

• $200 / student 

Click to Learn More About ICEA Chess Club

Coach Team

Coach Alex Wang (National Master):

Alex Wang is a 10th grader at Corona Del Mar high school and a National Master with a peak USCF rating of 2266. Other hobbies that he likes to do are ping-pong and reading. He enjoys sharing his understanding of chess with others. Alex is also the captain of ICEA Chess Team for 2023 SoCal. SuperStates Championship and lead the team won the 1st place of K-12 Championship.

Coach Esther:

Esther Jou is a 10th grader at Acaciawood Prep in Anaheim and a USCF Expert with a peak rating of 2064. She is a competitive chess player and has many accomplishments, such as winning the 56th Annual American Open U1600, 2nd place in the 32nd Annual North American Open U2100. Esther is also team member of ICEA Chess Team for 2023 SoCal. SuperStates Championship and won the top female in K-12 championship and is nominated to represent Southern California in the WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions. She is USChess top list chess player (#3 for Top Girls Age 15, #57 for Top Age 15, and #59 Top Women in the US). She enjoys helping her friends with chess as well as playing volleyball and the guitar in her spare time.

Coach Felix:

Felix Guo is a rising 7th grader from Windward School. He has been teaching Math & Chess classes since 2021. He has instructed more than 60 kids in math and more than 10 students got national winner awards. He founded ICEA Kids Chess Club in 2020 and he is also the founder of weekly free program GlobalAirlearning.org to help other kids to speak in public. He received 2023 AMC 8 Math Competition Honor Roll of Distinction with a perfect score. Felix represented the ICEA Chess Team in the K-8 Championship for 2023 SoCal. SuperStates Championship.

Coach Ellie (Woman Candidate Master):

Ellie Zhang is a 10th grader at Redlands High School and a FIDE Woman Candidate Master (WCM) with a peak rating of 1966. She has played chess since elementary school and has competed in many state, national, and international tournaments over the years. She is the 2022 Southern California Women’s State Champion and competed in the WIM Ruth Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions. She is the medalist of Team USA in the 2018 North American Youth Chess Championship (U12 Female). She also won first place at the 2022 Pacific Coast Open (U1900). Outside of her chess activities, Ellie enjoys reading and hiking in her free time.

Coach Elena (Woman Candidate Master):

Elena Zhang is an 8th grader at Cope Middle School and a FIDE Woman Candidate Master (WCM) with a peak rating of 2009. She has been playing chess for seven years and was a medalist of Team USA in the 2018 North American Youth Chess Championship (U10 Female). Elena was also the co-champion of the 2018 International Youth Championship (9-Under) in Las Vegas and invited to compete in the Susan Polgar Foundation Girls’ Invitational in Saint Louis in 2019. In her spare time, she loves cooking (the more graceful way to say eating), writing, watching comedy, and spoiling her two birds.

Coach Assistant Austin

Austin Huang joined ICEA Kids Chess Club since 2020.  He is a 4th grader and his current USCF rating is 800+. Austin has a passion for both playing and teaching chess for younger kids, and he is also one of the admins of ICEA Kids Chess Club on chess.com.

Bookings