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Mark Indermaur Chess clubs, Programs

Continuing to Serve At-Risk Youth with US Chess

We absolutely agree with US Chess that “chess is transformative for children by improving their focus, aiding in decision making, and teaching that choices have consequences — lifelong skills that can be immediately applied in the classroom,” so we are excited that they are continuing their Outreach Program for At-Risk Youth.

At the Indermaur Chess Foundation, we partner with NC schools to offer these and other benefits of chess to all students, especially those at risk, through our Game Changer Program. We provide each school accepted into our program with 5 chess sets, Chess Step instructional materials, ChessKid.com subscriptions, and online support.

When US Chess announced their outreach program in 2021, we applied on behalf of Wiley Magnet Elementary School and helped them start their chess club. Now in their second year, Wiley’s club used the free memberships provided by US Chess to enter a team in their first US Chess-rated tournament. You can tell from the photos they shared in their PTA newsletter that they had fun and gained good experience!

US Chess recently opened their 2022-2023 Outreach Program for At-Risk Youth supporting affiliates who offer chess at Title I schools, providing each school with 16 free youth memberships and 8 additional chess sets.  We’re excited to announce that we applied and were accepted into the new program on behalf of Vance County Middle School and Graham High School!

“We are so appreciative of all you have done, and we look forward to working with the Indermaur Chess Foundation to expose our students to this awesome game/experience. Our chess club will meet three days a week after school, and we plan to incorporate it into our AVID college readiness program,” explained Dwaynna Ramsay-Morgan, Vance County Middle School teacher and chess club leader.

“You’ll be happy to know that student interest is high, and the club is very lively. I’ve been reading the book that you sent with the sets to become a better trainer myself. I very much look forward to the opportunity to send students to tournaments,” said Nikola Filajdic, Graham High School teacher and chess club leader.

If you’re interested in starting a chess club at your NC school, consider applying to our Game Changer Program! Let us know if you’re a Title I school so we can also apply for the US Chess program on your behalf.

Mark Indermaur Chess clubs, Tournaments

Benefits of Playing in a Team Tournament

Please encourage your school chess program to enter a team tournament!

Team events like these in North Carolina are excellent first tournaments for several reasons:

First and foremost, students play with their friends, which is really fun!

Competing as a group relieves pressure that some students may feel, because if they lose some – or even all – of their games, they can still encourage their teammates and contribute to their team’s success.

They can wear school t-shirts, sit together, and enjoy snacks as a group between rounds to help build school spirit!

Team events are usually generous with team trophies, so schools have a good chance of winning something, especially if they have multiple teams. 

Team events are a great way for coaches and organizers to promote their chess club! They can announce the team’s success at school and in the PTA newsletter, display their team trophies at school, and submit photos of the event to the yearbook.

Parents and teachers can also network with their peers from other schools and get ideas for improving their programs.

Now that I have convinced you to enter your club in a team event, here are some great ChessKid articles to help you prepare your students and their parents:

Have fun!

Meredith W. Indermaur Uncategorized

Getting back to the boards: school chess resumes

After what was a necessary but often challenging COVID hiatus, many chess clubs have now graduated from meeting online to meeting in person, and the kids couldn’t be happier! Even though online chess clubs have served us well for the past 2 1/2 years (thank goodness for them!), it’s now a safer time to gather with our friends and classmates for some face-to-face fun.

We’ve heard from the organizers of several clubs about the renewed energy fueling their meetings – a feeling exemplified by this drawing by a Wiley Elementary chess club kindergartener. We hope you can tap into that kind of spark in your club, too!

If you’d like to start a chess club at your NC school, apply for our Game Changer Program today!

Mark Indermaur Chess clubs, Programs

61 Chess Clubs across 32 NC Counties

Happy National Chess Day!

As a chess nonprofit, National Chess Day seems like a good time to reflect on our plans and progress. When we launched in the summer of 2019, we set a goal of helping NC schools and community organizations start 100 chess clubs and, so far, through our Game Changer Program, we have helped them establish 61 chess clubs across 32 NC counties. Thank you for your support and for telling interested schools and libraries about us!

During the pandemic, we helped several of these clubs continue to meet online. In our most recent year, 317 students completed 2,109 lessons, played 21,965 games, and attempted 41,698 puzzles through the ChessKid accounts we provided. We also organized 49 ChessKid and 24 US Chess-rated tournaments for these clubs. We applied and were accepted for a US Chess Federation program for Title I schools to provide additional resources to help a Wake county school start a chess program.

If you would like to start a chess club at your NC school, library, or community organization, please apply for one of our grants. This year we will continue to provide chess sets, instructor guides and workbooks, and ChessKid accounts to help organizations establish chess clubs in NC.

We will organize weekly ChessKid tournaments and other events to enable students from these clubs to play each other.

Someone recently donated a 25-inch giant chess set which we plan to use at events with our clubs.

We have also received donations of gently used chess books which we will provide to NC libraries with chess clubs.

Thank you, again, for your support!

Mark Indermaur Chess clubs

Manage your ChessKid Group in a New School Year

We provide each school in our Game Changer Program with their own Group in ChessKid. (If your club is not part of our program and you do not have your own Enterprise account, you can still organize your students in ChessKid using the Club feature as this article explains.)

Each school year, you will want to add new students to your group and decide how to handle students from last year’s club who are no longer at your school. Here are several options:

1) Keep them in your group: This would be a good option for students who have graduated to middle school or high school and now would like to volunteer with your club.

2) Remove them from your group: Their ChessKid account would remain active as a personal account outside of your group. Their parents would still be able to manage the account if you included their email address on the account. With this option, these students would no longer be able to play in the online tournaments that your club or our nonprofit runs. To remove an individual student, click on their menu icon and select “Remove”.

3) Move them to our “Misc Kids” group or to an “Alumni” group for your school: Their account would remain active and parents could still manage the accounts. With this option, the students would not be in your current club but could continue to play in our online tournaments. Please let us know if you need help creating an “Alumni” subgroup or if you would like to move kids to our “Misc Kids” group. To move kids between groups, click on “Groups” and the “More Tools” drop-down menu on the right. Then click on “Move Kids”, select the “From” and “To” groups and click the “Select which kids you want to move” box to move specific students.

You will also want to add new Teachers and Coaches to your group using “Invite Adult Team Members”.

Meredith W. Indermaur Chess clubs, outdoor chess

Painting Your Own Outdoor Chess Boards

Here’s a fun project to consider for your school or library chess club!

After getting approval from their principal and PTA, one local elementary school chess club gathered students and parents to paint sidewalk chess boards using special concrete paint. They ordered medium-sized “giant” pieces to fit the boards, and they use these boards and adjacent picnic tables for outdoor lessons and for other fun events.  

A second school club purchased plain concrete tables and benches and then spray painted boards on them.  

You can also visit some of the many outdoor chess tables throughout the state. 

Get creative and enjoy some outdoor board time!

Meredith W. Indermaur outdoor chess

“Check” out outdoor chess in NC

Let’s face it: we’ve all had to modify our lives since COVID’s arrival in early 2020. We’ve successfully moved many indoor activities outdoors, and chess is no exception. Here in North Carolina, the winters are mild enough for folks to play outdoor chess year-round, making it a safe and fun option for everyone. 

If you’re looking to get a game going on an outdoor board, here are some safe spaces from west to east in NC that you can “check” out:

Pritchard Park, Asheville – stone tables, bring your own pieces

Winston Square Park, Winston-Salem – metal table, bring your own pieces

NC Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill – giant chess set

Church Street Park, Morrisville – concrete chess tables, bring your own pieces

Playtime in the Park, Downtown Park, Cary – chess table, bring your own pieces

Fenton mixed use community, Cary – giant chess in the Backyard

Fayetteville Street, Raleigh – stone chess tables, bring your own pieces

Moore Square Park, Raleigh – view the Moore Square Programs and Events Calendar and look for the regularly scheduled 10am – 5pm “Game On!” events which include giant and regular chess

Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh – giant chess inside museum, admission required 

Eastgate Park, Raleigh – chess table in the playground area, bring your own pieces

Artsplosure, Raleigh – giant chess set provided by Moncure Chessworks

Town Common Park, Greenville – outdoor chess tables, bring your own pieces or check out a set at the Sheppard Memorial Library

Sheppard Memorial Library, Greenville – keys to the giant chess set are available at the library front desk


There is also a chess park proposed for Mebane.

Please let us know about any other outdoor chess spaces in NC, and we’ll update this article.

Meredith W. Indermaur Chess clubs

Chess for Charity

If you know a student who’s looking for ways to get in some service hours, here’s a creative idea: how about hosting a chess tournament for charity?  

That’s exactly what a group of Enloe High School Student Council members, in cooperation with the Enloe chess club, did last month to support Charity Ball, an annual philanthropic event that has raised well over $1 million for various community nonprofits since it was created by an Enloe student in 2004.

The single elimination tournament, which took place right after the school day ended, included 32 participants and raised over $200 by charging a small entry fee. The winner was awarded a gift basket filled with candy, a prize anyone would love!

Why not plan a charity event for your club? Please add a comment below to let us know how it went!

Mark Indermaur Chess clubs

Starting a high school online chess club

Would you like to keep your high school chess club meeting online or start a new online club during the pandemic?

Your friends will really appreciate you running the club during this challenging time. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try different things to see what works best for your club. There are several free platforms that you can use to play like chess.com and lichess.org. These articles describe how to use their club/team features:

It is important to provide your club members a way to socialize when you meet otherwise they could just play online on their own.  You could use Google Meet or Zoom.

You could start your meeting with announcements, looking at your club leaderboard (https://support.chess.com/article/781-what-are-leaderboards), warm up with puzzle rush (https://www.chess.com/puzzles/rush) or by reviewing an interesting game from one of your members, and then play. During some meetings you could play blitz or bughouse (https://www.chess.com/bughouse).

Since other high school clubs are also meeting online, you could arrange some friendly online matches with other NC schools. Your school’s foreign language teachers may have relationships with high schools in other countries, so they may be able to help you arrange a match with one of those schools. 

Please add comments to let us know what works (and what didn’t work) for your club.

Thank you!