Our goal is to provide each camper with a very fun, memorable and educational experience; it is not to send a camper away expecting them to delve into chess books and tournaments for the rest of their lives.  The camp schedule is very structured but at the same time it is very fun. All of our instructors have different methods they use to teach their individual groups. But the main focus is the same: Present the chess material in a fun, exhilarating and entertaining way. There are no expectations placed upon the campers, and the atmosphere is very relaxed, at the same time organized "like a well-oiled machine," as one of our instructors likes to put it. We have a 70% camper return rate, and for many of these campers who return every summer for chess camp, this is the only chess they do for the entire year! What this says is that although chess does not play a huge part in their lives, they still return every summer because of the way the chess material is presented and because of the way the camp is structured. They are not playing chess tournaments every weekend, like some of our upper level campers, but they come to one week of chess in the summer because it's FUN. And we all know kids won't go near chess unless it's fun.  We recently received a short note along with a returning camper's registration:

As amazing as it may sound, we hear this quite often. It is the way the camps are structured, organized and taught that makes them able to entertain and educate every child from 5 years old and up and from beginner to advanced.