Tips for establishing a Good

Chess program at a School

by NM Dan Heisman

Find a teacher to act as sponsor who enjoys chess and will encourage the program
Get the following reading material as a starter library:

Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess by GM Patrick Wolff
The free, excellent booklet (or downloadable file) "Guide to Scholastic Chess" and (non-free...) Official Rules of Chess from USCF or call 1-800-388-KING (supplement with "A Parent's Guide to Chess")
My Everyone's Second Chess Book

Buy chess equipment from USCF (you can get a discount if you become a USCF "affiliate") or other web chess equipment sites
Join a local chess league (in SE PA see "Scholastics" on my main page)
Do lots of publicity within the school to make sure everyone knows about the program
Encourage all newcomers who show up and make them welcome; make sure your established members play chess with them
Encourage your members to visit these web pages to follow events in local scholastic chess and/or e-mail me to get on his e-mail list. A handout to this effect with periodic encouragement should be sufficient.
Have events at your school, such as tournaments or internal matches (such as juniors vs. seniors)
Consider an ongoing "ladder" to informally rate students (I can show you how to do this easily...)
Encourage your players to join the US Chess Federation (USCF) to get their magazine and allow them to play in local tournaments, especially the local, state, and even national competition, to get a national rating.
Consider bringing in outside speakers occasionally. For example, I will go to any local school once for free to talk about local chess, misunderstood rules, etc. I also go to schools for instruction (see my fee page for more info).
Have fundraisers to help get money for events: car washes, selling pizzas, etc.