Chess Camps
Since the late 1990s, our chess school has been running regular chess camps during school holidays and mid-term breaks. At these camps we teach our students not only about tactics & strategy, openings & endgame, but also about chess history, great players and their games and careers. Students take part in quizzes and tournaments, including blitz and bug-house chess competitions. This summer (2024) I’ve already run two online camps and one in-person camp on 22-26 July. 47 students attended the latter camp in St Michael’s College. There are two more camps coming up soon – for information on them and and to sign up, please use the links below:
| Date | Location | Google Form |
| 12-16 August 2024 | Ballsbridge | August camp in St Conleth’s College |
| 19-23 August 2024 | Online | August online camp |
I would like to stress that online chess camps are just as useful for learning chess as in-person camps. In recent years I run many online camps, combining Zoom and Chesslang platform for playing chess. Zoom, with its break-out rooms, allows several instructors to look after different groups of players. For example, over 130 students took part in our Easter 2021 online chess camps. We had five chess instructors (Carl Jackson, Luke Scott, Ivan Baburin and John Keenan all assisted me) and three guest teachers (Alice O’Gorman, Henri Li and Tom O’Gorman) working at those camps.
This is what Polly McCormick from Co Laois had to say about one of our online camps: “Alex’s October 2020 online camp was great fun. I enjoyed getting out of bed each morning with something special to look forward to. Each day began with a chess lesson, this was followed by games between the children. Alex then looked at our games and explained how we could have played better. I think Alex is a good teacher and he has a lot of patience. He does his best to explain things in a way that all the children can understand. There is often a funny story or an unplanned visit from Alex’s pet cat ‘Panda’ or someone else’s pet. I am not living in Dublin so I couldn’t always go to Alex’s camps, but now I am able to log in from my home. Chess books can be boring for children my age, as we want to have some fun when we are learning. Alex’s Zoom sessions made me feel like we were all in the same room together, and they made me laugh during the Lockdown. I wish my friends at school could do one of Alex’s camps and enter the fantastic world of chess.”
With any inquiries, please contact me on 087-968-2378 or baburin@gmail.com
Grandmaster Alex Baburin, FIDE Senior Trainer, June 2023