For campers entering Grades 2-8

Join us for our half day Chess camps!  Spend half the day with our chess instructors, and half the day sampling all that camp has to offer- swimming, sports and games, arts and crafts, and more! We offer two tracks, and our talented instructors will assess students to make sure that they are in the right group.

Beginner-level (Chess for Beginners):
This camp is geared towards kids that are new or relatively new to chess. Learn and reinforce basic principles. This camp covers the topics like: Piece names/movement, starting position, turn-sequence, piece values, special rules, general board competencies, and checks/checkmates. We’ll learn about notations for reading (and writing) games. We’ll do lots of problem-solving work, so be prepared to exercise your brain.
Students will be able to play with each other as well as their instructor to practice their skills and learn.

Intermediate / Advanced Camp:
This camp is geared towards students who already know chess rules/basics. It is preferable to have students who know all of the rules of chess before signing up for this chess session. This camp will concentrate on the specific offensive and defensive strategies with a review of fundamental opening, middlegame, and endgame strategies. Each day the students will be introduced to a new tactic and/or strategy such as pins, forks, discovered attacks, and skewers. Students will also learn basic checkmating patterns such as how to checkmate with a king and queen vs. king. We’ll learn about notations for reading (and writing) games. We’ll do lots of problem-solving work, so be prepared to exercise your brain. Students will be able to play with each other as well as their instructor to practice their skills and learn.

This camp presented with our partner, Chess Hero.

At a Glance:

• 1:10 program specialized instructor ratio within each group 
• Co-ed groupings
• Access to state-of-the art facilities and technology
• Summer at St. John’s counselor team to provide extra staffing where needed
• Exploration campers do not swim, unless the program specifically states it
• Click here to view our Summer 2024 Policies, including deposit and refund information

What to Pack in Your Backpack:

• Refillable water bottle
• Nut free lunch and snack
• Light layer as the A/C will be on in buildings
• Sunscreen – applied before coming and reapplied frequently
• Please label all belongings with a first and last name

Join us for Camp Open house on Saturday June 8, 2024.  Our whole team will be on campus from 1-3pm to show you around, and answer any questions you may have.