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We're wild about chess....

 

Each member (cub) gets a dedicated expert-level chess coach, and is part of a global community of learners

Learn from the best...

Our coaches are a-ma-zing with kids, but they’re also as good as it gets when it comes to chess. We count professional FIDE-rated players, certified FIDE trainers and master level competitors amongst our global team.

From the comfort of your home..

Our priority is teaching kids chess, wherever they are. Using the web, our team of first-rate coaches do exactly that: one-to-one online tuition that really makes a difference.

...and connect with other Cubs

Chess development isn’t just about learning from a master (although that helps!). Chess Cubs offers kids real world playing experience against well matched, friendly competition, so there’s always fun to be had, and progress to be made!

 

3 easy steps to a roaring start...

1. Join the community

To receive tuition, you need to join the Chess Cubs Community by registering; it’s free to join!

2. Subscribe to a plan

Choose whether you want to pay monthly, quarterly or annually, and choose a registration form. Fees are billed monthly in advance.

3. Tell us your preferred times

We’ll then do our best to match you with an available coach at those times. And that’s it, you’re good to go — let the games begin!

Featured coaches...

Coach Sandra
Women's International Master (WIM)
Sandra is a is a professional chess player and coach. A Women's International Master from Serbia with two GM norms (approaching Grandmaster level), she can also deliver advanced chess lessons and training games with analysis (Blitz, Rapid or as agreed). She enjoys using her experience to help players with their chess strategy, tactics or typical endgames.
Sandra won her state under-10s Championship, and went on to win the next 7 Championships in succession, breaking all under-18 records. She then went on to win the European Championship in rapid chess in a remarkable 25 minutes.

 

Book Coach Sandra
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Coach Ilias
FIDE Master, FIDE Certified Trainer
Ilias is a FIDE certified chess player. Like many of our Cubs, he started playing chess at just 5 years old, and progressed to a FIDE Master title in 2014 and a FIDE Trainer certification in 2018. He trains a range of students at different skill levels, and is highly skilled at helping beginners to progress quickly.
Ilias played on the Algerian national team between 2014 and 2019 at an array of international chess championships around the world including World Junior Chess, World Youth Chess, Arab Youth Chess and African Youth Chess.

 

Book Coach Ilias
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Coach Simona
Women's International Master (WIM)
Simona received her Women's International Master title in 2008 and became a chess coach in 2016. After finishing the world junior championship as a top 20 player, she went on to win the Lithuanian women's championship several times at classic, rapid and blitz, and participated in Olympiads with the national team.
As a working mum of primary school aged children (age 5 and 7), she knows exactly how to deliver engaging lessons for our Cubs around the world!

  

Book Coach Simona
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Coach Noemi
Women's FIDE Master (WFM)
Noemi is among the strongest female players in Croatia. She has taken first place at many tournaments including Croatian Girls Junior U17 championship in 2016. In 2019 she debuted for the Croatian Women’s Team at the Mitropa Cup, winning the gold medal with her teammates.
Noemi has extensive experience in teaching and coaching children and teenagers.

 

Book Coach Noemi

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Richard Smartt
Founder
Fascinated by the connection between between chess, creativity and life skills, Richard founded Chess Cubs in the summer of 2015 in London, England. Richard is a British writer, ICF-accredited coach, and award-winning educator, he began his teaching career at Highgate, one of the UK's leading independent schools. Later, for his contributions to tech education, he received a Learning without Frontiers Innovator award.
Richard has produced work for a variety of youth-focused organisations including National Youth Theatre, Duke of Edinburgh's award, and Design Museum. Inspired by the 2012 documentary, Brooklyn Castle, he began teaching local kids at weekend clubs in South London. Five years on, Richard is excited to see Chess Cubs reaching young people around the world with a distributed team of the world's best coaches.
Read more

Fees

 

World class chess training from the comfort of your home computer...

 

Monthly
£159 per month
Quarterly
£394 per quarter
Save 18%
Annually
£1486 per year
Save 27%
Up to 45 lessons each calendar year
Reschedule options
(by agreement with coach)
Fortnightly Club workshops
(chess games with other cubs)
Free access to Chess Kid Gold
(premium chess software for kids, ~RRP £10 per month)
Subscribe
(£159 p/m)
Subscribe
(£394 per quarter)
Subscribe
(£1486 per year)

"My six year old started as a complete beginner and instantly loved it. Richard is a wonderful teacher: welcoming, patient and kind with the children. He observes each child’s progress closely and adjusts the weekly lessons accordingly, always giving feedback to parents at the end of the session. My son thoroughly enjoys both the game (he now regularly plays with a neighbour) and the classes.”

—Nina

My son loves going to the class”

—Grainne

FAQs

 

If your cub is below 7 or very new to chess, we may recommend a lesson length of 45 minutes before increasing to an hour, otherwise lessons are 60 minutes each.

Tasters, are available periodically, and are 20-minutes long; they're a chance for you to sample what having a lesson with a coach might be like.

Yes! Each coach keeps a different schedule which you'll see when you join. Simply pick a coach whose schedule works with your own.

You just need...

  • a quiet place for your Cub to learn -- somewhere they won't be distracted
  • a device (computer, laptop, or tablet)
  • an internet connection
  • Some software setup (inc. Skype) which we can help you set up.

Some Cubs may find it helpful to wear a headset (with headphones and mic), but this depends on how you have things setup at home; so see how your first session goes before you get any additional gear.

When you register, you'll be able to let us know what time you'd prefer. We'll do our best to find an available coach, if we can't we'll come back with alternative times for you to select from. Lessons will take place weekly from the day of your first lesson. So if you your first lesson is scheduled for Tuesday at 3.30pm, your lesson will take place every Tuesday thereafter, unless you agree on another weekly schedule with your coach.

Child safety is top priority at Chess Cubs. All our UK coaches are DBS-checked. Coaches from outside the UK have also been vetted, endorsed by their local chess communities,  and are international chess players recognised by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs).  In any case, we ask that parents remain nearby whilst lessons are taking place.

Just let you coach know with 48-hours notice. Your coach will aim to reschedule for another time that same week if they're available, otherwise the missed lesson will be stored as a ‘lesson in hand’ for the rest of the month. 'Lesson in hand' means you can receive the missed lesson at another time, mutually convenient with you coach, within the remaining calendar month.

Each Cub receives up to 45 sessions in one Calendar year. You're not obliged to attend them all, but we recommend that your cub attends as many as possible.  We're closed during  August, and also for the last two weeks in December. Typically lessons are 1 week apart; if you have a busy week ahead or a holiday booked, be sure to reschedule the lessons that will be missed (within the same calendar month).  This may mean that your cub has two lessons in some weeks of the year, and this is fine.

We're rolling out a schools programme in 2022. Know of an interested school? Ask them to get in touch at support@chesscubs.co.uk, we'd love to hear from them.

Terms and Conditions are available here.

Via PayPal (for monthly subscribers), or Go Cardless (for quarterly or annual subscribers). For monthly subscribers, you don't need a PayPal account to join, but to keep things simple, we recommend you have one.

You'll see a debit for your tuition fees under the description 'Chess Cubs Ltd'.

That's no problem; we'll be sorry to see you go, but you can cancel at anytime.

If you're leaving because you're not happy with something, please do get in touch with us at support@chesscubs.co.uk and we'll see what we can do to help, or make it right.

Lessons can still be received until the end of your billing period.

Monthly subscribers: To cancel just Log into Paypal, select Settings > Payments > Manage my pre-approved payments. Then select Chess Cubs Ltd and click 'Cancel'. 😿

Quarterly or annual subscribers can just cancel their Go Cardless direct debit mandates.

When the  virus emerged at the end of 2019, we had already suspended all of our in-person activities to trial our online classes.  In accordance with UK government and WHO guidelines, we've decided not to re-open any in-person classes until further notice.  Fortunately we have a team of excellent coaches distributed around the world, delivering online, so none of our Cubs miss out!

Yes, absolutely! Although we're still head-quartered in London, we think of ourselves as a remote-first, chess school for kids around the world. Everybody is welcome. 😺

Sure, if you'd like a residential service, where a coach attends your home for regular in-person tuition, please contact our concierge team at concierge@chesscubs.co.uk.