5.3 - Discussion Items - ChessMatec and the CFC

[Lyle Craver]

The president has asked for this discussion item to discuss CFC - ChessMatec relations

[Stephen Wright]

OK, I'll bite - what is ChessMatec and why should we be discussing it?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Chessmatec is an online teaching platform endorsed by FIDE and in use in Israel, Canada and many other countries with some 40,000 children using it in Israel alone. It is mainly aimed at beginners. It teaches chess to children in an entertaining way. There are resources for chess instructors. There are significant discounts available through federations with a portion of the fees going to the federation.

https://www.chessmatec.com/

My feeling is that it is something that could be useful in getting chess introduced in schools. You can register and try some of the demos which give you a good flavour of the experience.

I believe that there are already one or two voting members who are using it in their chess teaching programs.

The kids that have looked at it have been somewhat enthusiastic about the experience, though it tends to be aimed at a level that is slightly less experienced than the typical CFC tournament participant.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

https://www.chessmatec.com/blog

The blog entries give an explanation of what they are doing and also give some reasons for youngsters to learn chess.

[Aris Marghetis]

Thanks for this reference, it looks interesting!!

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

discuss CFC - ChessMatec relations


There are significant discounts available through federations with a portion of the fees going to the federation.

Have they submitted a proposal? Do you plan to submit a proposal?

This meeting item seems not prepared for the meeting.

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Have they submitted a proposal? Do you plan to submit a proposal?

This meeting item seems not prepared for the meeting.

I, Hal Bond and Christina Tao have had some interesting discussions via email and in Zoom calls with one of the principals of the company Ariela Alterman, daughter of the well known grandmaster and his wife who founded the company. Ariela spent some time in Canada, in Alberta, specifically teaching chess. She is an intelligent young woman who is a good spokesperson for the company and for chess in general. This is an item which may soon become more important to us but of course we have to deal with the the more fundamental items crucial to survival first. Remember that there is a three week lead time for submitting agenda items. I would have expected that we would be further along with this but other items have occupied our time and attention as they often do. It has been a busy three weeks.

[Michael Lo]

Could you, Hal or Christina share your findings of ChessMatec so far? Is there any tentative plan or idea of how cfc will collaborate or make use of ChessMatec?

[Vladimir Drkulec]

Could you, Hal or Christina share your findings of ChessMatec so far? Is there any tentative plan or idea of how cfc will collaborate or make use of ChessMatec?

It looks very promising as a platform for teaching beginners and small children. It is already being used in Canada. Pricing seems reasonable and the expectation is that any memberships sold through the CFC would result in a commission. The commissions are not as important as the fact that this provides another way to introduce children to chess. This would involve us reaching out to groups who we are not currently reaching. We will probably start with an ad and a link on our website which would result in sales which we would be credited for.

[Hal Bond]

I like it too!