Castle Chess Camp divides campers by USCF rating into color-coded groups of 12 students. There is a maximum of 132 campers. Each group has its own Counselor as well as a Primary Instructor. The group is a camper's "family" for the week.
Castle Chess Camp begins on Sunday afternoon, with a brief orientation meeting for campers and parents. The Counselors and Instructors are introduced.
After orientation, campers break for dinner. After dinner, the groups meet with their Primary Instructor to play a simul. This is a very important time, as it allows the Primary Instructors to get to know the students in the group and evaluate their play. It also serves as a way for us to identify campers that may need to be moved to a different group in order to get the maximum benefit out of camp.
A typical schedule from Monday through Friday:
| 8:00 |
Breakfast |
| 8:30 |
Castle Challenge: a 5-round Swiss G/45 "practice" tournament.
One round is played each of the five days of camp.
After completion of each game, both players analyze the game together with an Instructor.
|
| 11:00- 12:00 |
Classroom sessions with Primary Instructors. |
| 12:00 |
Lunch |
| 1:00-2:30 |
Classroom sessions- instructors rotate to different groups. |
| 2:30-4:00 |
Recreation time- campers choose from a variety of activites including swimming, ping pong, rock climbing, capture the flag, and more. |
| 4:00- 5:30 |
Classroom sessions- instructors rotate to different groups. |
| 6:00 |
Dinner |
| 7:00-9:00 |
Evening fun activites, including a bughouse tournament, a blitz tournament, an Endgame Challenge, and more. |
All campers receive a camp binder and a lanyard with an ID button at the start of camp. Campers are required to wear their lanyard at all times. They must bring a standard tournament chess set, a chess clock, and writing instruments with them to camp, and carry them at all times.
On Friday afternoon, all campers will receive a written evaluation from their Primary Instructor which will include recommendations for further study.
Saturday and Sunday are reserved for the Castle GRAND PRIX, a five-round USCF-rated tournament for campers, instructors, counselors, as well as other players not associated with camp.
Commuters check in between 8:00 and 8:15 Monday through Friday. They check out between 9:00 and 9:30 every evening. On the weekend, commuters are not checked in and out- they attend the tournament as they would any other tournament, with any supervision necessary provided by the parents.