The Chesslife Method of Learning Chess
When head coach and Chesslife founder David Koetsier along with Sabrina came to Australia in 2005, they brought more than their Dutch accents and an appreciation of European coffee with them.
Since Chesslife began in 2010, students in Adelaide and Australia have benefited from a structured learning system uniquely created in the Netherlands to develop talent from a young age. This method is known as the Step by Step Method.
What is the Step Method?
Widely used throughout schools and chess clubs in Europe and increasingly the world, the Step Method provides trainers and students with a logical way to introduce chess concepts at exactly the right level for their experience with the game.
Presented in a series of six steps, each with an accompanying series of workbooks, the Step Method introduces chess material in increasing complexity, all the way from beginner’s chess in Step One to master level play in Step Six.
What makes the Step Method so successful at bringing out the best in young kids? The answer lies in the method of teaching, which relies on quality coaches who are familiar with the didactic teaching processes included in the Step Method.
Chesslife coaches, like those that have used the same techniques to develop some of Europe’s most impressive chess talents. GrandMaster Loek van Wely was a student using the workbooks and understand that young minds learn chess in stages.
Spatial skills, for example, come only after players understand the unique value of each of the pieces. In other words, there’s no point learning how to checkmate if you can’t first keep all your pieces safe!
Every Chesslife student completes the same Step Method workbooks , which act as guides on their progress. That way our coaches always know what level their students are at, which topics are understood and where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Parent can use those same methods at home.
The tournament results speak for themselves, with a growing South Australian Junior Chess Community. It is also evident in the classroom where kids can’t wait to use the workbooks in the class and the coaches who have seen the results first hand.
Playing chess has long been known to produce impressive scholastic results. And combined with the method, Chesslife provides students with the great benefits from this proven teaching method.
We may not have Dutch quality coffee, but at least Australia has the Step Method!
