English Chess Academy Phu My Hung.

Part 3: More than a normal chess class

The goal of the class is to learn chess ♟️ and use chess as a tool to develop some intellectual skills. 🧠
However, working with a small group is a great opportunity to work on social skills. 🤝

• Teaching them to help and explain to each other. 🗣️
• Stay patient with someone a bit slower. ⏳
• Learning to share to develop friendships. 🎁
• Develop empathy when a kid is having a bad behavior with another kid. 💖
• Try to overcome your fear of playing versus someone stronger. 🦁
• Develop friendships. 👫

Social Skills Your Kid is Learning Part 2: Learning to Push Yourself 🧠

Every student starts with the basics and learns to find a checkmate in just 1 move. But as they grow, we challenge them to calculate 2, 3, and then 4 or more moves ahead. This isn't just about chess. It’s about training the mind to see further and think deeper.

What happens when the puzzles get tough?

We see it in every class: a student hits a "wall" where the solution isn't obvious, and they want to give up. They are saying sentences like : "I am tired, it is too hard... ".
This is where the teacher needs to push and encourage.
We don't give the answer; we provide the "push" and encouragement to stay in the struggle just a little bit longer.

The Result? When they finally crack a difficult code, the kid will proud and happy. By refusing to quit, they learn:

1-Persistence: Staying focused even when the answer is hidden.

2-Mental Stamina: Moving from 1-move thinking to complex, long-term calculation.

3-True Growth: Realizing that difficulty is exactly where your brain grows.

We celebrate the hard moments because a child who learns to push themselves at the chessboard is a child who won’t back down from a challenge in life.

Does your child love a good challenge?

Social Skills Your Kid is Learning Part 1: The Handshake 🤝

Before a single pawn is moved, that first handshake sets the tone. Also at the beginning and at the end of a game the players say: "Good Game"
It’s a silent promise: "I will play my best, and I will treat you with respect.

Why do I insist on this ritual? Because it builds three vital foundations for success:

Respect for the "Enemy": Before the first move, a handshake says, "I respect you as a competitor, and I’m ready to learn with you." It transforms an opponent into a partner in a shared intellectual challenge.

Emotional Resilience: Offering a handshake and a "Good game" after a tough loss is one of the hardest things for a young player to do. It’s the first step in learning how to process disappointment with grace and dignity.

Building Community: Chess can be intense, but the handshake reminds kids that they are part of a community. Today’s opponent is tomorrow’s training partner.

In our classroom, we don't just count checkmates; we count the moments of character built between the moves.

Last Saturday, we participated in the Chess Plus Academy competition. It is always a great opportunity for kids to experience competition in a playful and friendly way. I took a group of 11 students with me, and others joined on their own. They played a total of 7 rounds, facing both stronger and sometimes weaker opponents.

For me as a coach, it was a chance to observe their progress, mindset, strengths, and weaknesses so I can adapt my classes accordingly. Chess is not just about competition. First and foremost, it is a game that develops many valuable skills and provides a rich learning experience for children.

However, for those who are truly passionate about chess and practice outside of class, tournaments can be incredibly exciting, motivating, and rewarding. ( Special Congratulations for Tom for 2nd place with 6/7) )

We can learn, play chess and have a great time even during holidays !

67 Đường số 16, Tân Phú, Quận 7, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

+84 89 948 72 18

Have you heard about the candidate tournament ? It is the tournament that will decide who will have an opportunity to challenge the current World Champion.It is the most most difficult tournament to access and to win.

For the last two years the Russian player Ian Nepomniachtchi won without succeeding to become World Champion after that.

However This year is the Young and prodigy Dommaraju Gukesh, only 17 YEARS OLD from India , who won this tournament against the best players of the planet.

He will get a chance later in the year to challenge the current Chinese World Champion Ding Liren.

Here are 4 iconic Woman Chess Players that can inspire the players in our school. Even if chess has more man than woman players, we have amazing woman chess players as well. Those are 4 womans promoting chess either by their skills or by their outstanding communications and charism.

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Tournament day :

As the level is quiet high I only recommend level 5 and higher students to join.

It started at 6h45am to get ready to be at the school at 7h15.
After waiting for 8 students, we left the school at 7h35am to arrive at the Finland School for the tournament. We split in 2 taxis.

All the students had to check-in and I got a bit stressed when I saw that 5 of my students were not on the list they did not register. At first they said they cannot participate but I used my French accent to convince them and they agreed to let them played 🤣

They played 6 rounds with 15 minutes for each players. My students scored from 0 to 4 points out of 6. They all played great, behaved respectfully and were patient as sometimes we need to wait.

Special congratulations to Yenseo, a young 7 years ago girl who got 4/5 and got tied with 2 other players at the 2nd place. She is only playing chess for few months 😅

Finally, we came back home at 12h45pm and ate nice pizzas as everybody was hungry. I kept working until 6h30pm.

Special thanks to the parents, the students( 15 in total) the Finland School and Royal Chess school for organizing the event.

Thank you for coming last weekend. We talked about the most famous tactic “Double Attack” and how to use it to quickly have an advantage in the game. I show them a new opening to start their chess game the Jobava London System.

A tactic: It is a one or many moves that give you an advantage.

An opening: it is a way to start your game. We have hundreds of openings in chess and each of them have different ideas. It is crucial to start correctly your game as it will influence your whole game.