Winter Break Chess Camp 2025 ~ 2026

Register soon to ensure a spot

Stacked discount for early bird registration and payment

The early bird discount will expire on December 12th 2025 at midnight and disappear from this form

A Chess Camp Day Curriculum Snapshot

♟ 8:30AM – 10:00AM Early Drop-Off & Brain Warm-Up Start the day with chess puzzles and quizzes! Students begin filling their “Money Bags” by earning Tickets and Gold Coins (and maybe a rare Diamond!).

♟ 10:00AM – 10:15AM Morning salute & wake-up fun kicked off with the official day salutations and silly trivia questions getting the energy up. (Rewards: Tickets, Gold Coins & Diamonds)

♟ 10:15AM – 11:00AM Skills evaluation assessments to gauge student current status and readiness.

♟ 11:00AM – 11:30AM Breakout sessions (Group Learning) Students split into skilled groups: Seeds & Sprouts in one room, Peanuts & Snakes in another. Focused instruction on specific chess concepts. (Rewards: Tickets, Gold Coins & Diamonds)

♟ 11:30AM – 12:00PM Chess tests on the breakout session topics. (Rewards: Tickets, Gold Coins & Diamonds)

♟ 12:00PM – 1:00PM Free play practice games and casual play. (Rewards: Tickets, Gold Coins & Diamonds)

♟ 1:00PM – 2:00PM Lunch break rest and refuel.

♟ 2:00 PM – 3:00PM The “Puzzle Racer” Big screen experience we feature a high-tech, custom-built systems setup using Lichess software. While the platform usually limits competitors to that of ten (10), we have engineered a solution allowing “all” students to compete simultaneously with live results showing on big screen! It is a thrilling, live puzzle-solving race. Students love this! (Rewards: Tickets, Gold Coins & Diamonds)

♟ 3:00PM – 4:30PM 🍿 Student popcorn stand opens! Students can visit our stand upon their wish for fresh popcorn and toppings.

♟ 3:00PM – 3:45PM Chess art & creativity time to get creative with various chess-themed art activities.

♟ 3:45PM – 4:15PM Afternoon breakout sessions, second round of group learning. Seeds & Sprouts and Peanuts & Snakes split up for targeted chess lessons. (Rewards: Tickets, Gold Coins & Diamonds)

♟ 4:15PM – 4:45PM Team bughouse chess, fast-paced team variant of chess.

♟ 4:45PM – 5:00PM The “Win the Instructor and Jr Instructor” Chess challenge! A highlight of the day! Students challenge the instructors for a Gold Coin. Head Instructor: plays with 1 minute vs. Student with 3 minutes. Jr. Instructor: plays with 1.5 minutes vs. Student with 3 minutes. If the student wins, they claim the Gold Coin!

♟ 5:00PM | Dismissal

♟ 5:00 PM – 6:30PM Late Pick-Up & Extended Challenge Instructors stay late for extended care. We continue the Gold Coin Challenges, allow students to relax, read, or play casual chess until pickup.

🏆 Special Friday Schedule
8:30AM – 6:30PM Friday offers a completely unique format! The day features two major tournaments: Team Bughouse Tournament and Standard Classical Chess Tournament. The day concludes with a grand awards ceremony featuring trophies and medals for our champions.

♚ AllStar Institutes Chess Rankings. Students progress through distinct chess levels based on their rating. Here is our growth path from lowest to highest:

🌱 Seeds: Rating 0 – 200

🌿 Sprouts: Rating 200 – 400

🥜 Peanuts: Rating 400 – 800

🐍 Snakes: Rating 800 – 1200

🐉 Dragons: Rating 1200 – 1600

👹 Monsters: Rating 1600 – 2000

👽 Aliens: Rating 2000 – 2400

Incentives & Rewards

We believe in rewarding focus and effort. Our unique in-camp economy allows students to earn Tickets, Golden Coins, and Diamonds by solving puzzles, winning matches, and participating in lessons. Students then visit our Awards Table to exchange their earnings for prizes. This system not only makes learning fun but also teaches students the value of their hard work—the more they learn, the more they earn! Chess students are on a mission to fill their “Money Bags” with our unique camp currency. Every piece of treasure counts toward purchasing prizes at our exclusive Awards Table! The value system is simple: Tickets are worth 1, Golden Coins are worth 10, and the rare, highly coveted Diamonds are worth a 100., and the rare, highly coveted Jumbo Diamonds are worth a massive 1000. Whether saving up small winnings or aiming for a Diamond, students love calculating their totals and “buying” their favorite rewards with the currency they earned through hard work and chess skills.

Tickets: Value = 1

🪙 Golden Coins: Value = 10

💎 Diamonds: Value = 100

Jumbo Diamonds: Value = 1000

📝 A Note from Mr. Gary “I wish to share to parents that this camp is serious business. We put in huge amounts of time and effort to build out not only a curriculum that is both educational and unforgettable, but an environment, structure, builds and configurations within that brings our chess camp to which I hope one of the best around. We have had students travel from as far as Sacramento just to attend our chess camp. The energy here is absolutely amazing and I too despite the effort, work and teaching within the camp, to which is almost non-stop all day, have so much fun! To understand how this can be and how the day just flies by, you would have to understand chess and its all variables within. Additionally I too enjoy all we build out and most of all all who attend! While at end of day I am pretty much dead, yet I leave each night with a smile, stories of laughter and memories of great moves on all the boards. So here we are ready for another adventure that will build skills, character, and memories that last a lifetime.”

See our last latest Chess Camp in action!

We know kids need a break to stay sharp. That’s why we balance intensive lessons with creative activities like our unique Chess Art and our famous Student Popcorn Stand. There is nothing like being on the chess board with a bag of fresh, custom-topped popcorn! We also take care of the fueling the students with enjoyable cool snacks and drinks throughout the day and of course our famous home-cooked lunch daily.

Last Day Chess Camp Song

Lets work backwards … this is our last day of the 2025 summer chess camp song (excuse my voice (Mr. Gary’s) as is a bit thrashed 🙂in song by teaching a full chess camp to great students)

Chess Camp In Action

Your child's chess journey doesn't stop here! To view our complete schedule of additional chess classes, chess camps and more, please navigate back to the top of the page. Inside the Chess Menu, you’ll find other exciting chess classes, chess camps, chess trips, engaging chess activities, and all the details you need about the AllStar Institute chess program.