What is a training camp?

Picture three days of hard chess with strong coaches. A summer chess camp is chess and play, but a training camp is the next step up. It lasts several days, and most players there already play in tournaments. You come home with a plan for your own chess.

What happens at the camp?

• You get lessons on the start, the middle and the end of a game.
• You go through your own games, move by move, with a coach.
• In a simul, one strong player plays against all of you at once.
• You play training games to test what you learned.
• And you take homework home with you.

A group started by Garry Kasparov runs camps called Young Stars. One camp lasted three days, and Kasparov went through every player's games himself.

Who sets one up, and how you get in

Grown-ups at a club, a youth program or a chess school arrange these camps. Some groups that help young players run them too. Some camps pick players with good results, or players who work hard at practice. If one is offered where you play, talk it over with your grown-up.

Champions train with coaches too

When she was ten, Hou Yifan was picked for a chess school for young players in Beijing. At sixteen, she became the youngest women's world champion ever. Coaches see things in your games that you cannot see on your own.

How you get the sticker

Your grown-up or coach checks it and hands you the sticker. Show your camp notes, your camp games, or your certificate if you got one. The coach who ran the camp can tell your grown-up that you finished every session. One camp earns one sticker. A summer camp is the Chess Camp sticker, at Star, but this sticker needs a serious training camp. Did you finish one before you had the passport? It still counts.