Hi guys!
Kallia has updated our website for the academy and it is now ready to receive registrations. At the first camp we had 11 participants, as we had put in a rating barrier of 2300. In the second camp, there will be no rating requirement to participate. We will have a few classes going on at the same time, so they all will be at an appropriate level for everyone. GM Ramesh has already agreed to join me at the camp and Boris Gelfand will be invited if we hit 30 participants.
The camp works well for GMs and for amateurs. GM Adhiban benefitted from the camp (or so he says) and won a tournament in Croatia right after, pushing his rating to 2694, preparing him to be only the 5th Indian player to cross 2700 (after Anand, Harikrishna, Sasikiran and Vidit). The other GMs were very positive as well.
Out of the 11 participants, 10 gave us 9/10 or 10/10. I think 6/10 or 7/10 is more appropriate. We knew we were beginners and we made a lot of small mistakes. The idea with a small camp was to learn before we invite a lot of people for 8-14 May 2019.
Here is a small video we did for ChessBase.in about the camp.
https://www.facebook.com/chessbaseindia/videos/334358964014662/UzpfSTEwMDAwMTQ2MzkxNTIzNjozMDYwNjExMjk0OTk0MTQ6MTA6MDoxNTQzNjUxMTk5Oi03Mzg2MjI5NTAzNjg4MzQ5NTQ2/
Wow a chess camp in Greece where 2500 grandmasters are the students. I am a tad (700 rating points) underqualified, but I would gladly serve beverages and sneak a peak at the board from time to time.
Hi , are all the classes in English ( with or without Scottish accent ?) ?
The point is to know if it is necessary to be fluent in English or not …
@Pinpon
The classes will be in English, with Danish/Indian accents. Do you need to be fluent? I would not think so. But you need to have a decent understanding of chess English.
It is important to point out that not everyone will understand everything at the lectures. This is not an objective. Rather, everyone will get tons of knowledge and tools to continue working with afterwards.
@William Patrick Shea
You are not underqualified. A lot of the classes will be divided up by rating and everyone will benefit a lot.
@Jacob Aagaard
I had to re-read the original post, as when I first read it I thought William meant his actual rating was 700! But now I see what he meant; so yes, I’m sure at 1800 he will get a lot out of it.