HRCA ChessKid League

Hampton Roads Chess Association is pleased to announce the implementation of a season-long competition for kids called the HRCA ChessKid League, which takes place entirely online at ChessKid.com. Chess kids in Hampton Roads can play in weekly online Friday night tournaments against other local chess kids, and they can play on ChessKid and win individual and team prizes for completing activities and earning stars. This page provides all the details of the League!

There are two sub-Leagues — the Tournament League and the ChessKid Challenge League. Children can participate in one or both as desired. The League will run from January 17th to April 25th, 2025. All awards will be presented throughout the day at the Seven Cities School Chess Championship on May 17, 2025. Winners may arrange to pick up awards at a later date if they are not in attendance.

Enrollment in the League is automatic for all eligible students — no action needed on your part!

HRCA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the life benefits of chess to people of all ages and abilities throughout our region. Research shows that children who study chess systematically gain the most academic and life benefits of the game — significantly greater than those who simply attend a chess club for one hour once a week. The League is a friendly competition designed to encourage children to make maximum use of their ChessKid Gold accounts for learning and practice, and therefore to gain significantly greater academic and life benefit from their pursuit of chess.

ChessKid.com is a 100% safe platform for children. They are unable to friend other accounts or freely chat or message with anyone on the site besides the account owner (HRCA SuperAdmin) or a linked parent account.

The Rules

These rules are designed to give all children the opportunity to participate and earn points equally, regardless of skill level. They are also designed to instill a Team culture in our school chess programs.

1. Eligible Participant Criteria

In grades Pre-K through 12th grade
Any schooling method: Public, Private, Homeschool, In-person or Virtual
Resides in Hampton Roads (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Newport News, Hampton, and some outlying areas with approval).
Enrolled in HRCA classes or clubs that include a ChessKid Gold account with registration at any point during the 2024-2025 school year.

2. Automatic Enrollment List

Students enrolled in the following HRCA programs are automatically members when they enroll and pay their registration fee for the year (or if fees are funded by grants or donors):

HRCA Master Class
Girls Rock Chess Club
Guppy Chess
Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club
Seahorse Chess
Learn-to-Play at HRCC or PSCC
Homeschool Chess Club
HRCA-coached School Chess programs

Note that students enrolled ONLY in classes through Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation, or who play ONLY at PSCC or HRCC, are NOT eligible for the League this school year, as these programs do not come with ChessKid accounts.

3. The Tournament League

Every Friday night beginning January 24, 2025 and ending May 2, 2025, all League members can participate in an online Swiss tournament on ChessKid.com. There will be 15 total tournaments in this time period. ALL ChessKid League members are eligible for the Tournament League.

Age and Ability Groups: Every tournament will be broken down into five sections: Unrated players in grades K-3, 4th/5th, and 6th-12th, Novice section for US Chess members rated under 500 (Regular over-the-board), and Advanced section for US Chess members rated 500 and up (Regular over-the-board). After the first couple of tournaments, if participation is exceptionally high in any unrated group, HRCA reserves the right to further break the groups down by grade (e.g. K-1, 2nd/3rd, etc.). If a player transfers to another ability group either due to HRCA restructuring groups or if the player becomes rated or achieves a higher rating, all previously earned points are retained and counted toward the player’s total for the season.
Fair Play and Disqualification: Players found to have “played down” in a lower age or rating group will be disqualified from that particular tournament. Players found by ChessKid.com cheat detection algorithms to have violated fair play policies will be disqualified from the tournament and may be removed from the League after speaking with the HRCA Executive Director. We take fair play seriously!
How-to Guide / Support: You can learn how to find and enter a live online chess tournament here. There will be a League kick-off Q&A Zoom with a test tournament (not counted for points) on January 17th at 6 PM. The Zoom link will be sent out via email to registered League participants. There will NOT be live Zoom support for any Friday League tournament unless announced in advance with a link in the HRCA weekly newsletter. Contact us for assistance at any time with questions / login. Live assistance just prior to or during an event is NOT guaranteed.
Awards: HRCA staff will track tournament results for awards at the end of the season, totaling all points earned throughout the season by each player. The Top 5 players in each section will receive trophies. One additional trophy will be presented to the Top K-1 player in the K-3 unrated section. One additional trophy will be presented to the Top U300 rated player in the Novice section, and one additional trophy to the Top U700 player in the Advanced section. If HRCA restructures the sections based on extremely high participation, new trophy breakdowns will be updated here. In addition, trophies will be presented to the Top 3 Elementary schools overall (combined across sections) and the Top 3 Middle schools overall. Team scores will be made up of the top 4 individual scores from each school.

4. The Challenge League

This portion of the ChessKid League rewards participants for working on puzzles and other activities by awarding points for activities completed and counting stars earned.

Eligibility: Unlike the Tournament League where ALL ChessKid League members are eligible to participate, two specific programs are excluded from the Challenge League because they already have internal awards and incentives for ChessKid usage. Children in those programs are strongly encouraged to actively participate in their own ChessKid Challenges and award systems. The excluded programs are Old Donation School and Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club (Tuesday nights at King’s Grant Presbyterian Church/KGPC). Other programs meeting on Tuesdays at KGPC, such as Seahorses and Guppies, are eligible to participate in the Challenge League until and unless they join HRSCC.
The Challenge Point System: Simply log in to your assigned ChessKid account at any time and complete any of the following activities: Solving Puzzles (NOT “duel” or “themed”), Fast Chess Games, Slow Chess (correspondence) Games (not common), watching Videos, reading Articles, or completing Workouts. Bot (computer) games do NOT count. You will receive one point for every activity completed. Your points will be tallied from January 17th to April 25th, 2025. This system recognizes purely EFFORT.
The Challenge Stars: You automatically earn stars on ChessKid for correctly solving puzzles (in whole or partial – 1 to 3 stars per puzzle) or playing live games with other kids (3 stars for a loss or draw, 10 stars for a win). Your stars will be tallied from January 17th to April 25th, 2025. This system recognizes both effort AND SUCCESS.
Levels: All students are strongly encouraged to complete as many “Levels” (Lessons) as possible on their ChessKid account (broken down as follows: 6 Pawn levels covering piece movements; 3 Knight levels covering concepts of Check/Checkmate/Stalemate); 3 Bishop levels covering basic checkmates; 5 Rook levels covering Castling and en Passant, as well as Opening Principles and another checkmate; 9 Queen levels covering concepts like planning, calculating, and tactics; 100 King levels with advanced concepts, and currently 41 SuperKing levels). Each level consists of watching a video, taking an interactive test over the content, and after the basics are completed, going out to the site and earning a specified number of stars to unlock the next level. This system of learning and forced application / practice is the most highly effective approach of all curricula HRCA has tested over the years. Children who complete all levels from Pawn 1 to Queen 9 will have completed and passed a foundational course in chess that is critical for them to continue to build their skills. Completing levels ensures individual comprehension that is not always possible to assess in a group setting.
Awards: The Top 5 eligible children will receive Trophies for the most Points in the ChessKid Challenge, with the top child identified as the winner of the HRCA ChessKid Challenge. Children completing at least 250 activities will receive a certificate. The single Top eligible child will receive a special plaque for winning the HRCA ChessKid League Star of the Season award. Certificates will be presented to other top finishers. Eligible children completing sets of Levels described above will receive certificates reflecting their achievements. Activities completed in pursuit of level completion (videos watched, puzzles and games to earn stars) are counted toward points and stars, as well. In addition to individual awards, we will tally total Points for each SCHOOL chess program, and the Top 3 Teams will receive Trophies for the ChessKid Challenge.