We hope to see you at camp this summer!
WSCF offers three levels of chess instruction with specific practices and instruction for each. These levels are beginner, intermediate, and advanced. In all camps students will experience a balance of instruction and competitive play with a tournament of at least 5 rounds with awards of trophies and medals. We find it is best for some students to take each level multiple times until they master the skills and concepts to move onto the next level.
It is important to have students enroll in the level that best fits their chess knowledge and experience. Most camps are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Beginner Camps
The beginner level is for students who have completed 1st grade and up to 8th grade. We need students entering this camp to know how to move the pieces. (Students can learn this for free at chesskid.com.) In this camp students will learn opening strategies, the five basic checkmates, and focus on good board vision. If students have ratings, then those with WSCF or USCF rating of 100 to 800 are the best fit for this camp.
Intermediate Camps
The intermediate camps are for those students who have mastered the beginner camp skills, have a couple years of tournament experience, or experience with online chess and have ratings from 600 to 1200. In this camp we focus on mastering tactics and tactical vision, game notation, and analysis. For students entering grades 2 – 12.
Advanced Camps
The advanced camps are for students entering 4th grade through 12th grade who are rated over 1000 and have mastered everything taught in the intermediate camp. This means students who have experience taking notation, have good tactical vision, do not drop pieces, and want to learn how to get to an 1800 rating. This camp will focus on the middle game, game analysis, planning for the end game, positional evaluation, and calculating. These camps will be taught by Andrew Rivedal (USCF 2124) and Gregory Cravetz (USCF 1876).
Combo Camps
Sometimes our intermediate camps do have enough registrations to warrant having the camp. In those cases we will combine the beginner camp with the intermediate camp. This can occur when the beginner camp and the intermediate camp are at the same location with the beginner camp scheduled in the morning and the intermediate camp scheduled in the afternoon. The curriculum will be modified to offer instruction and experiences offered from both camps.
