Setting up an educational chess project in class, from cycle 1 to cycle 3

Many teachers would like to do chess with their pupils but hesitate: “I don't really know how to play”, “I haven't got the equipment”, “how do I fit it into the timetable?”. These three obstacles are easily removed. This guide offers a complete approach, valid from cycle 1 (nursery school) to cycle 3 (CM1, CM2, 6^e; the last two years of primary school and the first year of secondary), with a model lesson and ideas for assessment.

Educational chess project

A set of lessons organised over a term or a year, in which the game of chess serves as a vehicle for identified learning (mathematics, language, social skills), with a progression, written records and assessment.

The educational chess project in six steps

1. Define the aim. Choose what the project should serve first and foremost: mathematics (locating, arithmetic), language, living together, or simply discovering the game.
2. Choose the setting and the timetable. One weekly lesson of 30 to 55 minutes over a term or over the year, during class time or as a workshop.
3. Gather the equipment. One chessboard for two pupils, a wall board or a projected board for demonstrations, pupil worksheets.
4. Build the progression. One piece at a time, with mini-games, then capturing, check, checkmate and finally the full game.
5. Link to subjects. Plan in each lesson an explicit slot of maths or language: coordinates, counting, vocabulary, a written record.
6. Assess and celebrate. Observe progress with a simple grid and finish with a highlight: a class tournament, an inter-school meeting, an exhibition.

Step 1: define the aim

A chess project can pursue different goals, and that changes how the lessons are built. If the aim is mathematical, each lesson will include a slot for locating, counting or calculating. If the aim is living together, the emphasis will be on respecting the rules, shaking hands before and after the game, and accepting defeat. The two are compatible, but it is better to choose one as the common thread. Studies also show that the effects on learning are clearer when the link with the subject is explicit (see what the studies say).

Step 2: setting and timetable

The most common format is a weekly lesson during class time. The Class'Échecs lessons last from 30 to 55 minutes depending on the theme. For a full project, a school year at one lesson a week amounts to around thirty hours, which matches the duration beyond which studies find clearer effects. A shorter project (a term of six to seven weeks) remains worthwhile for an introduction.

Step 3: the equipment

• One chessboard for two pupils: play in pairs is the basic format.
• A wall chessboard (magnetic or with pockets) or a board projected on the interactive whiteboard for whole-class demonstrations.
• Pupil worksheets: exercises on squared paper, diagrams to complete, written records.
• Possibly a clock for the older pupils, at the end of the project.

The Class'Échecs kit brings together the essentials: 10 folding chessboards, a magnetic wall board and 50 pupil booklets. The detail is on the page Class'Échecs.

Step 4: a progression by cycle

The golden rule is the same at every age: one new notion per lesson. Start with pawns and rooks, whose moves are the simplest, then bishops, queen, king and finally the knight, often the hardest for the little ones. Mini-games make it possible to play from the very first lesson, without waiting to know all the rules: see mini-games and exercises for children.

Step 5: link to subjects

Mathematics

Locating on a grid is the most natural bridge: naming a square, finding a piece from its coordinates, coding a move. You can then count the squares controlled by a piece, compare the value of the two sides, or, in cycle 3 and at secondary school, tackle powers with Sissa's chessboard. Ready-to-use exercises can be found on the maths notions on the chessboard and Sissa's chessboard.

Language

Chess vocabulary is rich and precise: file, rank, diagonal, castling, promotion, stalemate. Explaining a move aloud, writing out the rules of a mini-game or telling the story of a game are excellent exercises for speaking and writing.

Living together

Chess lends itself to work on rules (touch-move), fair play and self-control. The four principles of Class'Échecs also place cooperation at the heart of the programme: you can have teams of two pupils play against two, who must agree before each move.

The link with the common core

A chess project touches several of the five domains of the socle commun de connaissances, de compétences et de culture (the French common core of knowledge, skills and culture):

• Domain 1, languages for thinking and communicating: the language of mathematics (coordinates), specific vocabulary, oral explanation.
• Domain 2, methods and tools for learning: organising one's thinking, checking, memorising.
• Domain 3, education of the person and the citizen: respect for rules and for others, managing emotions.
• Domain 4, natural systems and technical systems: a problem-solving approach, reasoning.

A model 45-minute lesson

Step 6: assess and celebrate

A simple grid is enough: can the pupil move each piece? name a square? recognise a check? mate with a queen? You can also observe cross-curricular skills: waiting one's turn, accepting a defeat, explaining a move. A highlight at the end of the project, such as a class tournament, a meeting with another school or a simultaneous display against a player from a neighbouring club, gives meaning to all the work.

Training when you are not a player

In the Class'Échecs programme, 87% of the teachers surveyed in 2022–2023 said they knew nothing or almost nothing about the game: not knowing how to play therefore does not prevent you from running a project. The Ministry of National Education's M@gistère self-training courses and the programme's guided lessons are enough to get started. To go further on a personal level, there are also digital courses for the teacher who is new to chess, to follow at your own pace.