Hello Learners Chess Parents and Friends!
Happy Fall and start of the Balloon Fiesta this weekend!  In today's email find information about:
  • Upcoming chess camps to take place during the following days when most schools have off: Fall Break (Oct. 6th and 7th), Election Day (Nov. 8th), Veteran's Day (Nov. 11th), Mon. and Tues before Thanksgiving (Nov. 21st and 22nd). 
  • Upcoming chess tournament and bug house tournament, October 9th!
  • Our Learners Without Borders video has debuted on youtube and our timeline story has been published on our website!
  • Queen of Katwe, the next great Disney triumph movie! 

Thank you for opening and reading!

-Coach Victor Lopez

Who: All chess Learners (beginners to advanced players) are welcome!

When: Half days (8:30am-noon or 1pm-4:30pm) of Full days (8:30am-4:30pm) with before and after care available!

  • Fall Break: October 6th and/or 7th.
  • November Single Days:
    • Nov. 8th (Election Day),
    • Nov. 11th (Veteran's Day),
    • Nov. 21st, and/or 22nd (parent teacher conferences right before Thanksgiving).  

Cost: Sign up early to get the best price! Full day prices range from $32 per day to $45 per day and half days range from $18 to $30 per day, depending on how early you sign up! Also 10% off for siblings and 10% off for multiple days!

Where: Our headquarters at 532 Adams NE, Albuquerque (near Washington and Lomas). 

Coaches:

  • Coach Jason will be working with our beginners on their skills and he'll be overseeing the child care component of the camp with his decades of experience in child care. 
  • Chess Expert and 3-time NM State Champion, Coach Doug will be working with advanced players to work on more advanced chess topics! Also, some Learners Jr. Leaders and possibly other coaches will fill in if the camp fills up. 

For All Single Day Chess Camps: Sign up early to get the best early bird discount!

It makes our lives easier when you sign up early. So we have a series of early bird discount dates. Early bird discount deadlines for any of our single day chess camps are two weeks early, one week early, and two or three weekdays early depending on how close those days are to a weekend. Sign up early!

  October 9th, National Chess Day
Chess and/or Bughouse Tournament!
Come check out our headquarters location (with new tiled floor!) with 23 other chess players for an afternoon of chess and/or an early evening of  bughouse !
  • This will be our first tournament directed by former Learners students and current renowned New Mexico chess player, coach, and director, Willow LeTard!
  • Tournament Trophies awarded to the top fishing players and bughosue teams!
  • Chess is from 1:25-4:30pm (usually ends early). Games are USCF rated, sign up for membership at uschess.org. Clocks are set for 25 minutes with a 5 second delay. Notation required for 3rd grade and up.
  • Bughouse is 4:30-5:30pm
  • Similar early bird discounts for chess tournaments as for single day chess camps!
  Chess Practice Online!
Learn and Brush Up on The Basics
Here is a link to easy interactive chess exercises for your kids to learn or brush up on the basics .


Both these links come from the free and open sourced chess website, lichess.org. The site is free and has no ads. You can create an account for free and set it to "kid mode" for your kids to play on without you having to constantly monitor.
Our report back event went very well! Thank you to all who made it and all who supported out trip!
New Chess Movie:
Queen of Katwe
We had a great time with all who made it out to the advanced screening of Queen of Katwe!
Learners' Review: This movie really is unique and beautiful. It has everything one loves about a good Disney sports triumph story, while it features Ugandan culture, it highlights the serious world wide issue of poverty and the kinds of hardships faced by those enduring abject poverty, and of course it is so awesome because it is about a young GIRL who learns and ultimately finds success through chess. And further, we really love it because chess is treated as a tool for youth development and life lessons! Plus, there are some very cool and common checkmating patterns and chess techniques featured in some the games that the audience can see. 
From online reviews: “ Queen of Katwe ” is based on the vibrant true story of a young girl from the streets of rural Uganda whose world rapidly changes when she is introduced to the game of chess, and, as a result of the support she receives from her family and community, is instilled with the confidence and determination she needs to pursue her dream of becoming an international chess champion. 

Queen of Katwe opens in theaters this Friday and is highly recommended to all of our chess families!
Learners Chess students practicing mindfulness.
Thank you for reading and staying connected!

Coach Victor Lopez
Welcome to all of you who are new to our email list!
We send out a newsletter type of email regarding our upcoming programs and other happenings and Learners Chess related announcements once or twice a month and a bit more often than that at certain times of the year when our big programs are getting near. 
Also, we have a more focused email campaign that goes specifically to parents of kids currently signed up for specific programs. For instance, we will be sending out an announcement specific to parents of current after school program parents later today. 
This email list is jut a general one to all parents, friends, and supporters, past and present. 
Thank you to all who hang around and keep up with the goings on at Learners Chess! We have some very cool announcements in this email.