CRS London Academy, Chess Articles, UK Chess News
Chess Rising Stars

How to Use Chess Rising Stars Courses to Improve Your Chess


Our comprehensive chess courses serve as the roadmap to chess mastery. Whether you’re a junior or adult improver, our expert coaches are here to guide you with the knowledge and support you will need.

Juniors – In-person


Chess Rising Stars London Academy is creating the ideal environment to help introduce the game to younger children, the Chelsea Chess Club for 5 to 7 year olds. 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.

Moving forward, our main junior chess club, the Chelsea Chess Club is staffed by 4 expert coaches. The Chess Rising Stars team will ensure that children are grouped with those of a similar age and chess level. We also offer support to more experienced children who are intending to compete in chess tournaments and team matches.

WGM Andreea Navrotescu, Guest coach at the Chelsea Chess Club

Juniors – Online


The Wednesday Online Club is perfectly suited as an introduction to small-group chess lessons for less experienced children. We would recommend that children are already familiar with how the pieces move, check and checkmate but no further knowledge is required.

The Friday and Sunday Online Clubs offer groups at Beginner and Intermediate/Advanced level. There is a new group exclusively for secondary school chess players aged 11-16 at the Friday Online Club. Chess is gaining popularity in this age range, with students even using it for their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award activity.

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. To support this development, there are regular guest coaching appearances from Grandmasters.

Registration is open for the CRS Christmas Online Tournament 2023

Adult Improvers


Our Adult Improvers Online Group Classes would be ideal for adult beginners or parents whose children are learning the game. We will work together on the fundamentals of chess strategy and tactics. You will have the chance to try out what you have learned in our private, friendly tournaments.

We offer interactive and engaging private chess lessons 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.

What Next?


If you are embarking on a journey to enhance your chess skills, look no further than Chess Rising Stars courses, meticulously designed to cater to players of all ages and levels.

Related Post

Chess Articles
Jul 18, 2025

Bend It Like Philidor

I envy football fans who still look forward to a new season. As a Norwich City fan, the off-season is infinitely preferable.

Take last August, we opened with a 2–0 loss to newly promoted Oxford. Then there was a moment during the first round of the EFL Cup that stays with me:

Two minutes after taking the lead, a Stevenage freekick floated gently over our defenders, reached an unmarked player on the edge of our 6-yard box and nestled into the bottom corner from the header for 1-1.

The camera cut to Johannes Hoff Thorup, our newly hired (now fired) manager, shaking his head with glazed eyes.

I suspect he was thinking about Philidor.

Goode left completely unmarked

Set Pieces

Which brings us to endgame training. When done well, it’s the chess equivalent of having practised thousands of hypothetical freekicks. You can become grim, repetitive and reliable, unlike Norwich’s defenders, fully prepared for both common and uncommon scenarios. 

Queen vs Rook is a perfect example, full of neat bits of geometry and calculation exercises that will improve your general chess understanding. Let’s first see what might go wrong.

What Not To Do

When the black King is on the edge of the board, there are two main defensive tries to be aware of:

Black to play

1. … Rb6+!
1/2 – 1/2

White is unable to capture the Rook because of stalemate but neither can we move away because of the skewer.

Black to play

1. … Ra7+!

Again, the Rook is immune because of stalemate. This time White will either get caught in a perpetual on the a- b- and c-files or, if we try running away, there’s a pin on the d-file:

2. Kb6 Rb7+
3. Kc5 Rc7+

(3. Kc6 transposes to the stalemate defence)

4. Kd5 Rd7!
1/2 – 1/2

Good Chess Culture

Here’s where François-André Danican Philidor can step up and show us how it’s done:

Black to play

This instructive zugzwang was supposedly found by the man himself. Black is forced to separate the King and Rook because keeping them connected immediately loses:

1. … Rg8
2. Qh5#
1-0

1. … Kh6
2. Qf8! picks up the Rook
1-0

Once Black separates the Rook, we have a nice pattern of checks leading to a fork or mate:

White to play

1. Qe4+ Kh8

(1. … Kf8 2. Qh4#)

2. Qa8+ Kh7

(2.  … Rg7 3. Qh1# is pretty)

3. Qa7+!
1-0

White to play

With White to move, we need to Bend it Like Philidor™

1. Qe4+ Kg8
2. Qa8+ Kh7
3. Qe8

Et voilà, the triangulation brings us back to the zugzwang.

Of course, there are plenty of other winning methods to explore in just this one endgame but hopefully you have acquired a taste of what it takes to effectively manage a football team handle this endgame. 

One must imagine Philidor happy.

Chris Russell

Additional content:
Interactive ‘Bend it Like Philidor’ lichess study
(22/07/25)

Read More
CRS London Academy
Sep 12, 2023

Celebrating Chess Excellence!

Terafinalists: Celebrating Chess Excellence!

At Chess Rising Stars London Academy we are bursting with pride as we announce two of our brightest stars, Ashwin and Aden, have secured coveted qualification spots for the U10 Terafinal of the prestigious UK Chess Challenge!

At the Northampton Challengers tournament, Aden scored an impressive 7.5/9 and finished 2nd, while Ashwin collected 7 points in 3rd.

 

From Thousands to Sixty

The UKCC is one of the largest junior chess tournaments in the world. An initial field of tens of thousands of children is now down to just 60.

The road to chess mastery is not for the faint-hearted. It’s a journey filled with late-night endgame puzzles and a thirst for tactics that can outwit even the most seasoned opponents. Aden and Ashwin have just taken another step down this road.

A Historic Venue Awaits

Our dynamic duo, Ashwin and Aden, will now prepare for the grand finale at the illustrious Blenheim Palace. This historic venue, steeped in centuries of British heritage, is a fitting location for the Terafinal. Notably, several previous winners of this tournament have gone on to achieve the Grandmaster title.

A Trio of Triumph

Another shining star from our constellation, Sheng, will join Ashwin and Aden at the Terafinal. Sheng has earned the distinction of qualifying as the top U10 girl from the Online Gigafinal, a testament to her determination and skill on the virtual chessboard.

Good luck to our Students

We invite you to join us in wishing Ashwin, Aden, and Sheng the very best. Their dedication to chess improvement is a source of inspiration.

Stay tuned for updates from the Terafinal in October.

 

Read More
CRS London Academy
Apr 19, 2025

ECF Rating Milestones

We’re careful when it comes to chess ratings. It’s easy to lose sight of improvement, focus on the number and forget what’s important: study, study, study (and have fun)!

With that said, we felt that two students crossing the 2000 rating barrier in the same month is worth celebrating. It’s a first for Chess Rising Stars and it happened twice in one month.

Entering the 2000s

Noah and James both achieved personal best standard ratings in the English Chess Federation’s April Rating List. Their new 2000+ ratings put them both comfortably into the top thousand ECF ranked players, including adults.

It was a great month across the board for Chess Rising Stars, as we now have five students ranked in the Top 20 in their age category on the ECF Rating Database.

Noah at the ‘Chess Talents Tournament’ in Frydek-Mistek

Near Misses

The alcohol-free champagne is on ice for Ashwin and Aden! They’ve both been making excellent progress and, with ratings in the 1900s, will surely join the 2000 club soon.

We’re proud of what our students have achieved and look forward to seeing what the May list brings.

Learn More

Track Chess Rising Stars progress on our ratings page

Check our comprehensive chess ratings guide for parents

Noah and James are both members of our Elite Online Chess Club

Read More