How to Use Chess Rising Stars Courses to Improve Your Chess

Whether you’re a junior or an adult improver, a beginner or a master, our expert chess coaches are here to guide you with the knowledge and support you will need.

This is an updated version of the article that we posted back in 2023, as we have improved our chess course options to better support our students.

Juniors – In-person

Chess Rising Stars London Academy now offer in-person junior chess clubs at two venues in London:

Chelsea

We have created the ideal environment to help introduce the game to younger children, the Chelsea Chess Club for 5 to 7 year olds at Marlborough Primary School. Your child will discover the joys of learning chess in an interactive and enjoyable setting. We will work together on chess strategy and tactics plus associated skills such as sportsmanship, planning and focus.

Our main junior chess club, the Chelsea Chess Club, is staffed by 4 expert coaches and is suitable for more experienced children. The Chess Rising Stars team will ensure that children are grouped with those of a similar age and chess level. Our ECF rated tournament games will help prepare those who intend to compete in chess tournaments and team matches.

Wimbledon

Launched in 2025, our Wimbledon Chess Rising Stars Club is held on Sunday afternoons at William Morris House. Each week, we will offer a mixture of chess lessons, friendly games, and an internal tournament with plenty of prizes for the winners! For those seeking an extra challenge, our weekly tournament games will be ECF rated from November.

Juniors – Online

Our online community on lichess now has over 500 members. The Wednesday, Friday and Sunday Online Clubs each offer groups for children of all levels. We would recommend being familiar with how the pieces move, check and checkmate but no further knowledge is required.

On Fridays we have a club exclusively for secondary school chess players aged 11-16. Chess is gaining popularity in this age range, with students even using it for their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award activity.

Our new Chess Rising Stars Online Club acts as a feeder for the ever-popular Elite Club. It is designed for juniors who are already competing in local and regional tournaments, to support their preparation and help them to take their next steps. We can better match students to a group at their current level.

In our invitational Elite Online Club, we work together on areas of strategy, tactics and mindset to build the confidence and skills necessary to compete beyond Chess Rising Stars at national and international tournaments. Our new lead coach, GM Martin Petrov, will be supported by Elite Club founder Chris Russell this term.

Our Online Grand Prix has become a termly event since 2024. Chess Rising Stars students, parents, and friends are all welcome to take part. We have altered the format for the Autumn Term with a warm-up back in September, followed by weekly Grand Prix events held every Sunday. The tournaments are 1-hour Arenas at the 5+3 time control to help prepare our students to compete beyond Chess Rising Stars.

Adult Improvers

We offer interactive and engaging private chess lessons for adults online, delivered by our team of experienced coaches. The Chess Rising Stars teachers have been carefully selected and trained by WFM Maria Manelidou and are passionate about sharing their extensive chess knowledge and experience.

If you are keen to compete in OTB or online tournaments, our coaches have supported adult students in their local leagues, tournaments and even internationally. We have helped students to exceed their rating goals by following our individual training plans. Since 2024, Chess Rising Stars has competed in the 4NCLO team competition and were promoted in both our first and second seasons.

What next?

Get in touch with us by email to london@chessacademy.uk, WhatsApp to +447858563332 or via the website to register for one of our Chess Rising Stars courses.

To help prepare our students to compete beyond Chess Rising Stars, we are delighted to announce the return of our Online Grand Prix.

This term, our free Grand Prix tournaments are to be held on our lichess team page. Chess Rising Stars students, parents, and friends are all welcome to take part.

The tournaments will alternate between five rounds of 10+5 and seven rounds of 5+3. 

Prizes

Trophies to be awarded in various categories (e.g. Top Girl, Rating prizes and Overall Champion). Your top 5 scores from the 6 Grand Prix events will count towards this.

Schedule

The online chess tournaments will take place on Sundays at 4 pm (GMT) in the Spring Term 2025:

• 26^th January = Warm-Up

• 2^nd February = Grand Prix 1

• 9^th February = Grand Prix 2

• 16^th February = Grand Prix 3

• 2^nd March = Grand Prix 4

• 9^th March = Grand Prix 5

• 16^th March = Grand Prix 6

Fair Play

To ensure the integrity of the Chess Rising Stars Online Grand Prix tournaments, we will use the lichess cheat detection system alongside the observation and judgment of our experienced coaching team.

Register Now

Drop us a message on the Chess Rising Stars lichess team page or an email to london@chessacademy.uk to get involved.