Sponsored Story
If your kids are interested in learning chess, check out Chess Max Academy, which opened last summer at 110 West 79th Street, across the street from the American Museum of Natural History!
Maxim (Max) Dlugy, a former World Junior Champion and the youngest person to ever be president of the United States Chess Federation, decided to open up his chess Academy on the Upper West Side of Manhattan because Max and his wife Inna thought the Upper West Side was a perfect location for their expansion from the online school they started during the pandemic.
“This is a community that embraces strong education for children and that was exactly what we were looking for. That and the proximity to a number of great private and public schools made it a high-priority location for us,” explains Max, a Dad of two.
Max describes why chess is so enriching for kids, what Chess Max Academy offers, and more.
Personal Story
We live on the same block as our Upper West Side location on West 79th Street NYC and are bringing up two girls, aged 4 and 7, both of whom are playing chess. I came back to chess after a career in finance as I wanted to create the best chess school in the world. During the last 7 years, I have perfected a chess curriculum that enables talented and dedicated youngsters who want to become better at chess to become State, National, and even World Champions in their age group.
Inna and I met while in finance. Inna was an educator herself, having taught University level Economics and Banking courses and together we formed an amazing team that continues to expand chess education in the United States.
Typical Kids in Classes
Our most popular classes are the group classes for kids who have done some chess at school in the After-school program and liked the game. They want to learn more, but the After-school program is more suited for just playing chess, as learning chess with 15-20 kids in a class with one coach is extremely difficult These kids join our Juniors program for 5-7 years old, or our Jumpstarters program for 6-8 years old. The sweet spot for learning chess is 6-7 years old, though we have had great success with our Tots program which caters to kids as young as 3-5 years of age.
What are some of the benefits of chess for kids?
It has been proven by extensive studies that chess improves memory, logic, patience and study skills. Chess also boosts kids’ confidence in learning other subjects, as learning chess helps improve study habits. Many kids who do well in chess are much more likely to gain admission to good schools including top colleges and universities. Imagine you are a National chess champion, as over 20 of our students have been, and are applying to a good college – the title of a National High School Champion, for example, would give you a nice edge over other strong candidates.
Chess is also extremely beneficial for other sports where strategy is involved, as chess gives you such a vast array of tactical and strategic tools to use. It’s no wonder some of the very famous sports stars such as Kareem, Bird, Ron Guidry, David Robinson, Bill Walton are avid chess players.
Some of our most successful students
To name a few of our successes: Vincent Tsay – World Under 12 Champion, Nate Shuman – 5 time US Scholastic Champion, Vishwa Vasnawala – highest rated 12-years-old girl in all of Asia, Winter Su – K-1 National Champion after studying with us for 15 months, and our most famous student, Hans Niemann – a Grandmaster and the current U.S Junior Chess Champion, and more than 20 National Champions.
How can you tell if your child might like the game of chess?
If your child likes board games, like Tic-Tac-Toe, or fun activities like Rock-Paper-Scissors, it is very likely that they would be interested in learning a much more interesting game like chess.
Information about the camps we’re offering this summer
Our summer camps are fun but at the same time quite intensive. We start June 13th and go all summer long. We have kids learn by solving puzzles after listening to the coach’s instructions about how to think about their moves, play tournaments under the supervision of the coaches, analyze interesting games played by great players, learn fun and important facts about chess through Trivial Pursuit type games, do fun exercises where they learn to play with the clock and understand how to use their time and much more.
We also have exercise and sports, as our summer camps run from 9 am to 5 pm, or 9am-12pm for half-day summer chess camps.
Check our Summer Chess Camps here.
If someone would like to try out a class, how do they sign up?
To sign up for a trial class, just go to our website www.chessmaxacademy.com, choose the correct class for your child and sign up for the class that fits their schedule.
What’s next for Chess Max Academy
Our plan is to open 2-3 new locations per year, Our new UES Location coming June 2022. Our model based on excellent technology, strong curriculum and excellent master level coaches has proven itself and we want to bring it to as many kids as possible! We have already opened a location in Greenwich, CT and will be opening our new Upper East Side location in June of this year. We finalized our mobile application. Download our mobile App, Chess Max Academy, to enjoy a beauty of Chess.
