Global Chess Challenge has been pushed back and will return in 2022
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Timeline
Teams
Each team should consist of at least two but not more than four players. All teams must consist of players that are eligible for the same division.
Divisions
- Elementary Division: Grades 3-5 (ages 8-10)
- Middle School Division: Grades 6-8th (ages 11-14)
- High School Division: Grades 9-12th (ages 15-18)
Coaches: Any adult over the age of 21 years old. Each team has to register with a coach.
Registration
Each school may enter up to 5 teams per Division. Homeschooled students who actively participate in the chess club of the public, charter, independent, or parochial school for the area where they live are eligible to participate on the school’s team.
Home school students who do not actively participate in their local area school chess club, and players who attend schools without chess clubs, can register as an independent team as long as the team has a designated adult supervisor.
Individual classrooms may also enter a team.
Registration opens 7 April 2021 and closes 30 September 2021.
Competition Conditions
There are 3 conditions for each team to meet, to be able to compete:
Create 3D chess avatars/characters using Tinkercad or Minecraft
Add animation, effects to their characters/avatars and program effects
And playing the game of chess, of course!
How to win the game
Recording Moves
In all Divisions, each team must record moves on an official ‘Kai's Chess Challenge Move Record’ document that will be emailed to the chess coach. Keeping a record of the moves, the move record will be used to help settle disputes about the position, drawn games, and what moves were made.
Scoring
Due to the nature of play, scoring for Kai's Chess Challenge will be much different than the usual scoring used in a chess tournament. Consider the following scoring system as you practice for your chess matches.
At the end of each chess game, you will complete the scoring section (Kai's Chess Challenge Score Sheet) on the ‘Kai's Chess Challenge Move Record’. For middle and high school divisions, you will also need to record your cumulative score for all games played. Your team will get points for all of your opponent’s pieces that you capture. The following guides will be used for scoring:
- Castling - 10 points
- Moving all pieces (bishop, knight, rook and queen) from the back row at least once - 10 points
- Capturing 4 different pieces (pawn, bishop, knight, rook, queen) - 10 points
- Winning Team (checkmate, opponent gives up/Resigns, or wins on time) - 20 additional points
The committee will then allocate points up to 20 points for design and 30 points for coding and animations. See the ‘Final submission’ for requirements.
The following guides will be used for the score:
Use of 3D models to represent each physical chess piece: up to 20 points | ||
5 | 10 | 20 |
3D models from a 3D library to use during the game. | Modification of 3D models from a 3D library to use during the game. | Create your own Individual designs for each chess piece/character using Tinkercad or Minecraft |
Use of code and animations for your 3D models: up to 30 points | ||
10 | 20 | 30 |
Animations & effects added to their chess characters/pieces during gameplay. | The use of code and animations to enhance gameplay. | Use logic code to highlight your own strategies during gameplay. |
Required Equipment
- Please register your free account for the online chess platform of www.chesskid.com
- Kai’s Chess Pack (includes Chess Mat 3’x3′ / 1mx1m & camera tripod, QR codes)
- Set of standard size chess pieces – see instructions on how to add QR codes
- Android or iOS phone for free Kai’s Eye Robot Tracker
- Computer for coding and viewing the 3D Virtual World
Frequently asked questions
- Kai’s Clan has been sold into schools in over 30 countries for the last two years. We offer students a strong foundation to access real-world technologies using coding, robotics, AI in collaborative virtual 3d environments. This will be the first year we are running the Chess Challenge so we have a few schools that we are trialing to see how that will work.
- We will attach a “how to get started” guide with the entry form to each team as well as on our website we will have all of the rules, regulations, etc. (Sample below) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1THBJ_9IbKdK_fx69V5CL7n3kxMUaZ4mrjmUrFJ0M0X0/edit?usp=sharing
- We will have teams of up to 4 students that can enter. Some teachers will do this in class, others do this with their groups during lunchtime, or at coding/chess meetups. I believe students (depending on age) can complete and finish their project within 3 weeks (2 hours per week, so in total about 6 hours) if they meet twice a week.
- Schools that have Kai’s Clan use it in the classroom throughout the year. Currently, we have 60 cross-curricular lesson plans for teachers and students. The Chess Challenge is an extension of Kai’s Clan.
- With regards to our Chess Challenge: Schools purchase Kai’s Chess pack for around $250 and this includes:
- Entry fee, competition Kai chess mat 1mx1m, and camera tripod for Kai’s Eye app and Kai’s coding platform.
- Teams of up to 4 players from Schools/Clubs can compete physically and virtually. We will have 3 divisions:
3 Divisions:
- Elementary Division: Grades 3-5 (ages 8-10)
- Middle School Division: Grades 6-8th (ages 11-14)
- High School Division: Grades 9-12th (ages 15-18)
Each team needs a coach/teacher to assist and help with this project.
There are 3 requirements for each team to be able to compete:
- They need to create 3D chess avatars/characters using Tinkercad or Minecraft
- Add animation, effects to their characters/avatars and code their effects
- A classical game of 20 + 10 will be played via an online, live platform, ChessKid.com.
G/20+10inc time control means: each team starts with 20 minutes and adds 10 seconds with each of their moves. This means that one game can last up to 40-50 minutes.
ChessKid is a safe and secure website designed for young players to learn/play chess and includes protections against cyberbullying.
The system is dynamic to allow for local and/or remote play.
- Regarding the actual project, students will work together beforehand to design, code, and plan their strategies.
- For example, one student will be the main chess player, a second can be copying the moves from the opponent on their own mat, a third player will monitor the virtual worlds and effects.
- Regarding the designs, effects, etc, there is no right or wrong, it is open to their creation of what their design and virtual play would be.
Unlike a traditional tournament, talk is encouraged between the team (up to four players) to decide upon their chess move. Each team should designate a captain of their team. It is the role of the captain to coordinate the communication of the team.
Individual Roles on each Team during live matches:
- Coding Lead: Oversight of the code and makes changes as needed/desired.
- Chess Lead (usually the strongest chess player on the team). Decides & plays the chess moves.
- Logistics Lead: inputs the chess moves into the software (on chesskid.com) and transfers opponent’s moves onto the physical board
- Captain: ensures all functions are working smoothly & handles any communication to opponent’s team captain, fills out team scorecard
- Coach: Observes, ensures fair play, refrains from ANY coaching
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