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Highlights from the Global Chess Festival in Budapest, Hungary
I’m back from a wonderful few days in the beautiful city of Budapest where Judit Polgar’s Global Chess Festival coincided with the 45th Chess Olympiad. Chess players from around the world represented their nations. Congratulations to the Indian team who won gold in both the open and women’s section! Today’s blog is all about my…
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Elias Mastoras and the Paralympics Football ⚽️
Happy September! I’m back on English soil after a month in my beautiful Greece. Sun, sea and family and some Greek treats along the way. One of these treats was meeting Elias Mastoras. An hour and half with this wonderful human. It was a pleasure to hear about his work and vision as we sat…
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Chess in Primary Education: Flexible and Accredited Course from the Aegean University
I’m writing my August blog from Greece. A view of the sea and Thessaloniki’s White Tower in the distance. A rook steeped in history. As I take in the view I refocus because today is a big day. It’s an honour to meet Theodoros Tsorbatzoglou the General Secretary of the European Chess Union. Theodoros, a…
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Empowering Educators: Literacy, Maths, and Emotional Skills at Chess Education Conference
Today’s blog is all about Sunday’s online Chess Education Conference hosted by Fide America. A two-day conference, I was only able to join on the Sunday and I’m so glad I did. It was a great success! A good conference has to tick certain boxes. I don’t want to spend my Sunday listening to a…
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London Chess Fest 2024: A Celebration of Chess in Trafalgar Square
On Sunday 7th July we had the biggest chess event of the year. Brought together by the wonderful Malcolm Pein, Chief Executive of Chess in Schools and Communities and sponsored by XTX Markets. More than 14, 000 people visited the event with the theme of ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ Chess Fest was huge. A…
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Decoding Chess Notation: Language and Flexibility in Chess Learning
A few weeks ago I taught a lesson on chess notation. My 9 and 10 year old students made notes on the symbols read chess notation and recreated the opening to a game. Some children went further and continued the game as they recorded their own moves. Codebreakers I pitched the lesson as a language…
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A day in the life of a trainee chess tutor♟
Hi everyone.There’s a month to go until schools close for Summer here in London. Instead of winding down, the weeks have got busier. In addition to my normal teaching days I’ve been shadowing chess tutors for Chess In Schools. This is part of the induction process. I wanted to see as many teaching styles as…
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The Life-Changing Magic of Chess: Maurice Ashley’s Inspiring Journey
The Life-Changing Magic of Chess, by Maurice Ashley is a little gem of a book. Last week on my visit to London’s famous Chess and Bridge shop I finally bought my copy. It’s a delightful book that belongs in all three classrooms where I teach chess. The World’s First black grandmaster Maurice Ashley is the…
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Cherubs Magazine: Promoting Maths and Games in Family Education
Introducing Cherubs family magazine 💫 Last month I shared some of my chess articles from R.I.S.E. education magazine. Today I’m sharing another magazine. It’s the gorgeous Cherubs family magazine, a quarterly UK based magazine also available online. The wonderful creator and editor Sevim Safer (see selfie below 📸) gives me the opportunity to write articles…
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A gratitude post… we R.I.S.E. together!
New website for an education magazine! Today’s blog is about R.I.S.E. a brilliant online education magazine and their brand new website. Two years ago I wrote my first ever article about chess called ‘The ‘Gift of Chess’. This will always be my favourite piece. It’s a summary of all my years as a primary school…
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