The European Chess Academy (ECA) will be a pan-European organization to assist and coordinate the work of all associated academies. The underlying idea is to build on the work of Chess in School by creating a system of secondary and tertiary chess education.
One possible structure, showing the three levels, could be:
- Chess in School programmes, most of which introduce children to chess in order to improve their all-round education, form the primary level. If encouraged to do so, many of these children would move on to secondary level chess.
- Junior Chess Clubs can provide such a secondary level education. Here children can deepen their chess knowledge. The Young Pioneer Palaces, a cornerstone of Soviet chess power, have formed the blueprint for junior clubs in several countries. Here youngsters can get much more detailed chess culture and coaching in a more competitive environment than in most schools. These local organizations are frequently run by volunteers, often with little or no connection to their national chess federation. The ECA would encourage federations to link existing junior clubs and assist them to create new ones.
- Regional and national academies, culminating in an ECA International Academy, would provide a university-level training for stronger players and the cream of the elite. It could well be that branches of that International Academy would be created for Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Europe.
The main features of all the Academies should be:
- Groups of talented and enthusiastic children receiving regular coaching from qualified trainers.
- E-learning, so that even geographically isolated children do not miss out.
- Opportunities for the most talented to attend the International Academy. Occasional sessions with the most inspirational coaches, providing a powerful impetus to their chess education.
The first step to implementing all this is an analysis of existing academies, local, regional or national. Armenia has put in place a well-developed structure, and Azerbaijan has big plans for the development of an Academy, with an ambitious government-backed programme to promote children’s chess. There are also Academies in some Western European countries and in Russia.
There is a range of ways in which the ECU can help:
- by providing a structure to ensure good communication of ideas and information about how existing and future local, regional and national Academies are run. This will help those federations currently without junior clubs or academies to set them up without having to re-invent the wheel.
- by establishing help manuals, coaching syllabuses, textbooks and lists of existing books recommended by leading coaches.
- with finance in exceptional cases.
Structuring what is currently rather haphazard training will eventually ensure that any talented child in Europe will receive appropriate training. This is an additional way of developing the intelligence of children and helping to promote European unity through chess.
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Good idea.