Whether it’s creativity, competitiveness, a sense of belonging to something bigger than you, or just plain fun, chess means something different for different kids. No matter the motivation, learning and playing chess has been shown to improve memory and problem solving, develop patience, the ability to concentrate - and it’s really fun! In these camps young chess players will learn the strategy, tactics, and various techniques. They will also learn to notate their games, use a chess clock, and become familiar with basic principles and patterns of play. Each camp includes group instruction, solving chess puzzles, review of historical games, group play, and a group review of the games for support and feedback. This camp focuses on learning match play, including chess notation, clock usage, strategies and reviewing games, as well as game variants. These variants offer a fun, enhanced version of chess, creating a special kind of universe in which students can use classical chess ideas, themes and principles, with an altered set of foundational rules. The game variants we will learn and play are 'Bug house', 'Knight mare' (Imagine 'Magic' cards combined with regular chess!) and 'Fischer Random' Chess ( "normal" opening preparations are thrown out the window replaced by a new order of ideas). Students should have a working understanding of the game's general rules, names, abilities and trading value for pieces, and knowledge of basic chess terms such as: Check, Checkmate, Stalemate, Rank, File, Diagonal, Opening, Middle Game and End Game. Additionally a general understanding of Opening principles, simple tactical themes like the 'fork' and 'pin' and the ability to solve checkmate in one puzzle with relative ease.