Mapping your Chess Progress: A Guide to Chess Rising Stars Courses

We are creating a new ‘Rising Stars’ club to upgrade our online chess club provision for the new academic year. This group will be part of our Sunday Online Club programme and act 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.

The Sunday Online Club is already our busiest with three weekly teaching groups. The new Rising Stars Online Club will ensure that children who are looking to one day take part in national or even international-level tournaments receive the knowledge and training that they will need.

Since 2020, Chess Rising Stars has taught hundreds of children in our online chess clubs. Our global community of chess learners has grown to over 500 members on lichess.

Our expert coaches will offer real-time feedback during our private tournaments and follow this with game analysis. We will support each student in gaining an understanding of their current strengths and weaknesses and how best to train in-between lessons.

Through our strong links with experienced local tournament organisers in the London-area, plus in national championship events, we encourage our students to take part in suitable competitions. We communicate regularly with parents to share these opportunities.

We also offer our students an opportunity to represent the Chess Rising Stars teams in both the J4NCLO and main 4NCLO. You can find out more about this later in the article.

Individual Achievements

Our Elite Club members have succeeded at both the national and international level:

• Double 1st place at the LJCC Finals in the U12 and U14 Major sections.
• 1st place in the U12 Boys category of the EJCOA National Youth Finals.
• Two members were selected for the EPSCA South West England team, plus one for the South East England team, to face Wales.
• Elite Club members reached the Terafinal of the UK Chess Challenge and returned as 3rd and 7th place finishers.

Elite Club

As the Elite Club moves into its fifth season, we are delighted to announce a new Lead Coach, GM Martin Petrov. Martin has been a popular guest coach since Summer 2024 and we are excited to extend his role. Martin’s lectures have included demonstrating his recent win against GM Alexei Shirov from the Bundesliga and explaining when to apply AlphaZero-inspired plans to push our a- and h-pawns.

This club has a limited number of spaces and these are available by invitation only. From September 2025, students at our new Rising Stars Online Club will be assessed for promotion to the Elite Club at the end of each term.

You can follow our progress through our News, Achievements and Top Students pages.

We always welcome parents contacting us, if you would like your child to be considered for a place in this prestigious group.

Team Achievements

Our strongest juniors represent Chess Rising Stars in two major online team competitions:

• Since registering our first team back in 2022, we have achieved many successes in the J4NCLO and are 7-time Divisional champions and 3-time runners up.
• Back-to-back promotions in the main 4NCLO in 2025: Division 5 runners-up in our first season, followed by winning Division 4.

Please do consider joining one of Chess Rising Stars’ upgraded Online Chess Clubs when we restart in September 2025!

We look forward to hearing from you and would be happy to help answer any questions you may have.

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.