ABOUT THE HOUSE​

The New Orleans Chess House is many things--a chess academy, a tournament venue, a social club, and the headquarters for Savvy Chess Press. These components serve the same underlying mission by bringing together the elements needed to support chess passion and talent. Whether chess is just an activity to socialize around or a professional aspiration, the community needs ready access to high-quality affordable or even free content to guide how they want to evolve in chess. 

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TEAM​​

COACH ROBERT, Ph.D., Head Coach

All of our coaches are on a personal chess improvement journey, value community building, have experience in all levels of chess play from beginner to tournament player, and follow a new chess curriculum and method designed by a PhD and chess master that evolves with the student needs. Our method does not only focus on particular chess knowledge--it emphasizes generalizable skills that matter in the real world. The fact that chess has so many transferrable skills is part of what makes it a timeless classic among games. You can also expect the highest personal conduct standards with USA SafePlay training and tournament director certification from our coaches. We carefully track and analyze all student progress and are happy to meet to discuss strategy or start a dialogue around any concerns you may have as club members. 

 

HOW WE SUPPORT YOUR GOALS​

We value fun, but we also believe that the most fun possible in chess is unlocked at a high level of skill. Therefore we bring together in our method rigorous training methods, the most educational examples, a dynamic puzzle training system, and testing-based advancement. We want to avoid players getting stuck because they missed fundamentals along the way while supporting their organic pace of advancement. Our class tiers are thoughtfully organized to keep players of similar skill in a tight range while they work on the most essential skills for that level. All of our decisions are informed by experiences with over a thousand chess improvers. We believe that everyone can become a master with the right combination of determination and coaching that adapts to the student. At the highest level, we have an organic team approach that we think you will enjoy.

 

​​GROUP CLASSES FOR ALL

Our Group Class offering is tailored to bring players from zero chess knowledge to any level they are committed to attain. It's an open-ended system that takes you from learning piece movements and what checkmate is to being part of a team that trains together at the highest level with in-house training partners and coaches and guest lecturers through our network of partnerships. We offer eight levels of class ensuring that nobody is stuck in a group with peers too far beyond their skills to train together efficiently. Our class breakpoints are based on skills--not subjective ratings (although the two are strongly correlated). We have plans in place to support players who need time and spaced repetition and players who want to do extra work and move quickly in each group. In the first class, our coaches will evaluate students to determine their best initial fit, and create a plan for their progress. Classes are open-enrollment so that there's no need to delay anyone's chess journey for logistical reasons. Our curriculum is designed such that classes don't depend strongly on the order in which they are taken, to accommodate the reality of classes being rescheduled or missed. Each student's knowledge and performance is tracked and analyzed by the head coach (Dr. Coach Robert). All students are engaged individually throughout each class. Because of our student tracking method, we ensure that students get a custom set tailored to their current needs. Because many students in lower classes are younger, and because adults tend to learn quickly, adults and children only combine in the highest level classes, with adult-only beginner options available.

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HIGH QUALITY TOURNAMENTS

Our tournament offering is starting with a Saturday Tournament with a $100 prize, class prizes for players under 1000 USCF rating, and second-place free entry prizes (even if it’s a tie for second!). We hope to expand our roster to offer tournaments throughout the week, including rated blitz and casual events – and perhaps a few whimsical formats. See you there!​​

 

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANTAGE

Savvy Chess supports coaching and chess literature merchandise with trade-secret technology that surpasses the capabilities of all the major chess platforms for bringing together instructive chess materials. Student analytics are performed by a data analysis professional.