Impact Chess at a Massachusetts Family Camp

From August 14 to August 21, Impact Chess outreached for the first time to Massachusetts: a week-long family camp located in the mountains of Becket. For an hour and a half each day, Impact Chess student leaders from the Boston area were provided with 8 chess sets and hosted a multitude of chess activities at the camp. Participants of all ages - ranging from only 5 years old to 50 years old - came to the dining hall at 4:30 p.m. to learn chess from a local chess star, Ryan Wang. Ryan is an Impact Chess member and is ranked in the nation’s top 15 best players of his age group.

Throughout the camp, Ryan played simuls, gave tactics to the participants, and orchestrated chess games against him and against others. He also taught lessons on important chess principles and gave advice after chess games. Participants not only experienced the game of chess through normal blitz, but also had fun playing variants, such as Losers and Atomic Chess. Every day, around 15 to 20 people showed up, resulting in a total of 110 attendees throughout the duration of the camp.

The kids who attended the event really enjoyed it, and several families have reached out after the event with donations or to ask our Student Leaders for advice. The event provided a fun experience which sparked the interest of kids completely new to chess, who now want to continue learning because of this event. It also was an opportunity for people already familiar with chess to learn from experienced players like Ryan and have fun while practicing. This is our first event outside of the New Jersey area and we hope to continue expanding with events for people new to chess all around the nation.

Written by Ryan Wang, Edited by Tianna Wang, Published by Cindy Zhou