Frequently asked questions : Chessity

In order to understand this properly, it is good to know a little more about the background of Chessity. Chessity is designed to give all children the opportunity to learn chess in school. In a fun and effective way, with a method that on the one hand helps chess specialists in classroom management and on the other hand does not require school teachers to be able to play chess themselves.

It's no coincidence that Chessity is a digital method. A digital learning method is not an end in itself, but a springboard to more effective, personal and modern chess education. Thanks to digitalization, chess teaching has become scalable (one teacher can mentor more children at the same time) and within reach for teachers or parents who cannot play chess themselves or feel unqualified to teach. 

Chessto - as small and cute as he is - is a very powerful, innovative and absolutely unique instrument. While the children learn independently with high-quality instructions from Chessto and feedback from the program, the teacher has plenty of time for personal attention to individual learners. This can take the form of chess instruction (chess trainers) or coaching children in their learning process (teachers), or both.

For students, especially children, it is simply great to be helped by Chessto; exactly with the things they find difficult or don't quite understand yet. Just as often as is necessary and in the way that this individual student learns the most from.

This is what Chessto does:

1. Explaining and teaching

How does a knight move? Can a queen make far moves? And how do you take an opponent's piece without losing one of your own pieces? In the lessons, Chessto acts as a virtual chess teacher that helps children learn how to play chess.

Chessto also plays a prominent role in teaching and practicing checkmate and defending against mate. Not only does it help the children to understand the concept of 'mate' properly, it also activates prior knowledge in a structured way. This makes it easier to process and remember the new information. Children learn to automate the thinking steps, so that they can better apply the lessons they have learned in their chess games.

Chessto doesn't mind explaining things three times, ten times, or even twenty times. He never loses his patience and is always helpful and cheerful. However, the robot has deliberately been programmed in such a way that children cannot sit back and let Chessto do the work.

2. Coaching during a game 

Chessto is full of sophisticated artificial intelligence. As soon as children are able to play a real game of chess, Chessto helps them during their games with tips and advice based on their personal level of chess and user data. Chessto teaches them proper opening strategy and what choices one has to make in the different phases of a chess game. Think of aspects like developing pieces, castling and king safety, and attacking safely. At the right time, focused on the individual learning objective of the user, while Chessto adapts to the level of the user. In short, Chessto offers truly customized learning and coaching, that focuses on what it is all about: the chess student.

Our user data shows that the chess level of children improves by leaps and bounds in a very short period of time. After half an hour of playing chess with Chessto, the effect is already measurable!

3. Coaching in the learning process

Chessto keeps an eye on which lesson(s) still need to be made in order to get a new badge on the way to the exam. It coaches the students in their learning process.

Once a week, Chessto distributes these lessons to the students as a special mission. Mission accomplished? Then a new badge will be displayed on the homepage and the student is one a step closer to their chess diploma.

Once all stickers have been received, the student can take the exam. Chessto's guidance, both in the exam coaching and during the lessons, ensures that the students learn even more efficiently, so that they can quickly obtain chess diplomas and enjoy learning.

4. Coaching after a failed exam

If a student fails the exam, Chessto comes back into action. He analyses the mistakes that were made during the exam and on the basis of this it compiles a package of lessons that need to be practised in order to pass the next attempt.

As a teacher you can leave the guidance to Chessto without any worries (although it is always possible to view the exam results yourself).