Practicing chess in a tangible and competitive setting is vital for developing not only chess skills, but fostering connection, cooperation, and endurance. Chess is not only a game of strategy and perceptual-reasoning, but an outlet for your child to develop self-confidence and self-trust in the process.
Alaska’s chess scene is smaller, but there are still many opportunities. And as always, we encourage our students to start their own clubs! Below are some organizations that sponsor opportunities for competitive play in Alaska:
Alaska Chess
Alaska Chess is a non-profit organization “dedicated to bringing the benefits of chess to school students in Alaska”. Although their website is beautiful and offers a joyful vision of children connecting and expanding their worlds through chess, the tournaments and events listings are still in the works. They have a broader vision of chess as a vehicle for social connection and cohesion (which we love!), and the events they sponsor for all ages and settings are best found on their facebook page. Their website does offer forms for coaches and players, as well as contact information which can be found here.
The MSBSD Chess Club
The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) offers a chess club for elementary, middle, and high school students in their district.
Per their website: The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District is located approximately 35 miles north of Anchorage in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in an area commonly known as the “Valley”.
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/adventure-alaska-beautiful-blue-sky-207049/
We love to hear your input on other resources or events you know or would like to hear about! This page will be updated as we learn of new resources for your child to grow, and you can learn about more opportunities by subscribing to our monthly Newsletter!
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many opportunities to test your skills over the board! You just have to look in the right places.
Talking about the right places. Are you looking for the right place to improve your skills? Learn from our Masters online either in private lessons or group lessons.
We'd love to hear your ideas on how to make this better! Share them with us and we'll update this post ASAP! And remember to subscribe to our Newsletter so that you will get all of our awesome online monthly tournaments!