Chess Camps Keep Summer Boredom in Check

Some kids spend the summer just hanging out with squares — black and white ones, dotted with chess pieces, to be precise.

The UT Dallas chess camps are accepting applications for their fifth year of operation.

Campers learn chess notation from Woman FIDE Master Bayaraa Zorigt.
Attendees get camp T-shirts, chess boards and pieces, trophies, certificates, score books and group photos.

Classes are divided by ability, age, experience and the instructor’s assessment.

Organizers say the program develops self-esteem; reading and math ability; and critical and analytical thinking.

Jim Stallings, director of the UT Dallas chess program, says the camp is holding its own against some of summer’s more traditional attractions, if one mother’s remarks are any indication.  She told Stallings her son asked to cut short an afternoon at the pool so he could work on his chess.

Instructors include top-ranked and internationally known winners of multiple Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess and Final Four Championships.

Classes are small with a low student-to-teacher ratio. Special attention is made for requests to group friends and relatives together.

The camps scheduled for June have concluded, but two more weeks remain in July (July 7-13; July 14-20). Openings remain in the morning and afternoon sessions of both weeks. Registration is available at  http://chess.utdallas.edu/camp.htm.

UTD Instructors include top-ranked and internationally known winners of multiple Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess and Final Four Championships.

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