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After-School

Elementary Team League 2024-25 Matchday 1 Results

The new season of the Elementary Team League, the friendly competition we run for students enrolled in after-school chess clubs, has just begun.  We are grateful to St. Luke’s United Methodist Church of Tysons Corner for providing the venue for a fourth consecutive year.
 
Students from twelve schools — eleven in Northern Virginia and one in the District of Columbia — showed up at the church on Saturday for the first and second round of matches.  Kent Gardens and White Oaks are off to an early lead after winning their first two matches, with Spring Hill close behind in third.
Since the League began in the mid-1990’s, we’ve had thousands of students use this competition as a runway to build up their skills in preparation for stronger tournaments like the state and national championships.  Any student enrolled in one of our after-school clubs may sign up to represent their school team, and we especially encourage participation among children who haven’t played competitively outside of their school.  
 
The next match day for the League will be December 14.

Round 1:
Colvin Run 1-3 Haycock
White Oaks 3-1 Willow Springs
Spring Hill 2.5 – 1.5 Churchill Road
Oakton 1-3 Kent Gardens
Greenbriar West 3-1 Mixed Team
Ravensworth 1-2 Mixed Team
Orange Hunt 0-3 Mixed Team

Round 2:
Greenbriar West 1-3 Churchill Road
Spring Hill 2.5-1.5 Haycock
Orange Hunt 1-3 White Oaks
Colvin Run 2.5-1.5 Ravensworth
Mixed Team 1-3 Kent Gardens
Mixed Team 4-0 Willow Springs

Standings after Matchday 1 of 8:
 
Kent Gardens 28
White Oaks 28
Spring Hill 26
Churchill Road 21
Haycock 21
Greenbriar West 20
Oakton 20
Colvin Run 19
Cleveland Park 16 
Orange Hunt 12
Ravensworth 11
Willow Springs 10

Elementary Team League 2023-24 Matchday 7 Results

Yesterday at St. Luke’s we brought the curtain down on the Metro Area Chess League for the season, with students from eleven of our clubs turning out to represent their school teams.  In what was a close race all year to the finish, Spring Hill held on to first place in the final standings by ten points over Churchill Road, with White Oaks, Poplar Tree and Kent Gardens all close behind them.

However, while everyone competes hard to win, the results are of secondary importance when compared with the experience and confidence the students gain when representing their schools in a competitive setting.  We’re happy to see several of our students from the League go on to take part in competitions like the state championships — held this past weekend — and the Nationals, coming up next month.

 

Round 13:
Kent Gardens 3-1 Colvin Run
Willow Springs 3-1 Ravensworth
Spring Hill 4-0 Oakton
Greenbriar West 2-2 Lorton Station
Orange Hunt 0-4 Poplar Tree
White Oaks 2-2 Churchill Road
 
Round 14:
Poplar Tree 3-1 Greenbriar West
Colvin Run 2.5-1.5 Willow Springs
Churchill Road 2-2 Spring Hill
Lorton Station 1-3 Kent Gardens
Oakton 1-0 Orange Hunt
Ravensworth 0-4 White Oaks
 
Final Standings after Matchday 7 of 7:
 
Spring Hill 178
Churchill Road 168
White Oaks 164
Poplar Tree 157
Kent Gardens 154
Willow Springs 130
Colvin Run 122
Greenbriar West 115
Orange Hunt 79 
Oakton 52
Ravensworth 50
Lorton Station 36

Fall Chess Clubs & Classes – Registration Now Open!

After-School Chess Clubs
Start Next Week!

FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES 2-6.  Since 1993, the U.S. Chess Center has been running after-school chess clubs in elementary schools in partnership with PTOs/PTAs throughout the national capital region. We are pleased to resume in-person clubs at many of our locations this autumn.  Registration for the following school clubs is now open:


Colvin Run ES Chess Club (Vienna, VA)
Greenbriar West ES Chess Club (Fairfax, VA)

Poplar Tree ES Chess Club (Chantilly, VA)

Ravensworth ES Chess Club (Springfield, VA)

Spring Hill ES Chess Club (McLean, VA)

Stratford Landing ES Chess Club (Alexandria, VA)

Westbriar ES Chess Club (Vienna, VA)

White Oaks ES Chess Club (Burke, VA)

Willow Springs ES Chess Club (Fairfax, VA)


Our in-person clubs welcome students of all ability levels, from complete beginners to accomplished tournament players.  We teach the rules of chess to students who do not know them and the strategy of the game to everyone.   For both lessons and gameplay, students are grouped by playing strength to ensure that each child is appropriately challenged.  The fall session of our clubs commences the final week of September, and runs all the way to the end of the first half of the school year, in late January or early February.  The spring sessions begin shortly after.

Some of our clubs have decided to be virtual-only this school year.  For these clubs, classes will be online with students also grouped by skill; however, our online clubs are designed for students that already know the rules, basic vocabulary, and basic strategy of chess.  If your student is completely new to chess then they are not eligible to participate in an online club but we are creating classes for them. 

Churchill Road ES Chess Club (McLean, VA) – ONLINE ONLY
McNair ES Chess Club (Herndon, VA) – ONLINE ONLY  

In addition to one after-school meeting each week at the school with instruction and supervised play, membership in our clubs (in-person or online) includes the opportunity to participate in the Elementary Team League, a fun competition that takes place from 1:30-3:00 PM on various Saturdays throughout the school year. This local team event has been a tradition for over 20 years, bringing together students from all over the greater Washington area to represent their chess clubs in friendly matches against other elementary schools.  Students of all levels of tournament experience are welcome.

Find an After-School Club
After-school fun
Online Chess Classes

FOR STUDENTS IN GRADES 2-6 who know the rules of chess but are unable to participate in one of our in-person after-school programs, the U.S. Chess Center offers classes online.

Our online classes are live and interactive with a nationally certified chess coach; we do not use videos.  We stratify the lesson groups by ability so that everyone is challenged but nobody is overwhelmed.   Lessons are designed to help students develop confidence without boring them, and students are encouraged to share their ideas and questions with the class.  Our teachers listen to each student to ensure that nobody is left behind, and we observe the games the students play with one another to determine points to emphasize in future lessons.

Online classes are 60 minutes, once each week from 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm ET (UTC -5).  Each class has 20-30 minutes of instruction and 30-40 minutes of supervised play.  Space is limited.

The fall semester of online chess classes starts next week and runs through January 2022.  The spring semester of online classes runs from February 2022 through early June 2022.

If you wish to register your child but have questions about which class level to enroll in, you can read the descriptions of each level on the registration page.

 

Register for Online Classes (Grades 2-6)