Hello Fall 2017 Learners Chess Parents and Friends!

We are well into our Fall semester of chess clubs! Thank you all for having your awesome children involved in their school chess club with us this year!

Our coaches are reporting back great results from their clubs and most of our students are already earning lots of 'Learning Prizes' for their hard work!
If your student has come home with a colored chess piece, it is because they have successfully completed a "learning zone" activity and demonstrated their comprehension. In our clubs, learning zone activities are typically the solving of appropriately challenging chess exercises or chess puzzles and they also may consist of demonstrating ideal chess playing behavior and/or mindfulness practice. The specific activities or puzzles may differ from child to child depending on their experience, but the overall goal for us is to be encouraging our students to challenge themselves and engage with our learning materials. If you would like check out the puzzles and learn from them yourself, definitely ask your kids to bring home their chess puzzles and teach them to you or work on them with you.

A few house keeping items:

Please always bring your ID when picking up your child. As we are getting to know many of you, we are having to check your ID's less and less, but we are also bringing on new coaches in training who may be taking on the role of handling sign out at the end of each club meeting so please do have your ID ready when picking up your kids. This is a safety procedure that we practice.

Save the Date! Our end of the semester Central NM Team Chess League regional team chess tournaments are scheduled! All four tournaments will take place on Sunday, December 3rd. This year they will all take place at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Albuquerque.
  • Morning 9:00am-12:30pm: The NW Mesa and the Rio Grande Valley regions
  • Afternoon 1:00pm-4:30pm: Sandia Heights and ABQ Metro regions
  • Early evening 5:00-6:45pm: Bughouse Tournament!
Registration for these events will be open soon!

Here is a map of the regions in which each school will participate
*note, a few teams have moved to a new region this year to accommodate our growth.

See below for a Fun Chess Puzzle, Information about our upcoming Single Day Chess Camps, and

Welcome Lisa!

We are very excited to welcome Lisa Giering to our organization as our new Executive Assistant! She comes to us from Heading Home, an organization that works on permanently housing homeless individuals in Albuquerque. She has quite a bit of experience in non-profit office administration and we are incredibly excited to have her on board to help us grow and mature as an organization!
Lisa is still learning the ropes, but in the next few weeks she'll be reaching out to you all to let you know her contact information so she can help you with any registration, payment or scholarship issues for which you need our assistance.
Fun Chess Puzzle: The Immortal King Walk! 
This one is recycled from last Winter so if you saw the solution then, try to solve it now!

Here is a fun checkmate puzzle from a famous game, Edward Lasker vs. George Thomas (1912) that really shows how much of an advantage it is to control the center of the board and to have your Knights and Bishops well developed.
Fall Semester Single Day Chess Camps
Who: All chess Learners (beginners to advanced players) are welcome!
When: Mix and match any combination of half or full days that fits your needs! -  Half days (8:30am-noon or 1pm-4:30pm) of Full days (8:30am-4:30pm) with before and after care available!  Discount for multiple days!

October Camps:
November Camps:


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). 
Sign up soon to reserve your spot!
  Chess Practice Online!
Learn and 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.
Support Learners Chess!
Get your Holiday Shopping Started and Support Learners Chess!
  • Shop on AmazonSmile! Use this link to make any purchase you would normally make on amazon and amazon smile will donate 1% of your purchase to Learners Chess Academy!


  • Go Solar! If you are interested in going solar, you can use this link to schedule a free consultation and if you end up going solar, Learners Chess will receive a $200 donation!

  • Designate Vaya Verde dba Learners Chess Academy as a recipient in your work place giving campaign through United Way

  • Or make a donation to support our need-based scholarship fund and other charitable projects such as Learners Without Borders and the Central NM Team Chess League!
Thank you for reading and staying connected!


-Coach Victor Lopez and the enitre team at Learners Chess
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