We ABSOLUTELY LOVE this place. Our oldest son played back in 2009-2012. His game level improved and he gained a stellar capacity to create a strategy when playing. He loved it! I claim that his ACT score of 34/36 was due to chess playing...years later my youngest son is now playing he is a beginner but we can wait for a long term stay with our old chess friends. Chess is a gift we love sharing with our children. CANT WAIT TO BE BACK!

I was a student in 3rd grade, and when I was 16 years old I received a postcard from the owner inviting former students to work part time doing data input and clerical work. There were a lot of good people there, and I enjoyed instruction. However, I was asked to stay and complete tasks until they were finished, sometimes late into the night (11pm) and was not paid for those hours, or given overtime. I wish I had the presence of mind at the time to report the company to the Arizona Labor board for serious violations. While it is probably too late now, it did happen, and it was against the law. If your children are interested in Chess, that is great hopefully they continue.

Son joined chess club at school with minimal chess knowledge. He loves chess club. Weve done Friday night and Saturday tournaments---great experience learning sportsmanship for my young son. The coaches all seem very nice and knowledgeable.

Scott and the team at the Chess Emporium are doing everything they can to make the world a better place, be that: private lessons for one student, a group class/camp, or an after-school chess club.Their passion for instilling virtue in each and every lesson cannot be denied, they sincerely care about chess and its benefits to the individual that studies.A truly worthy cause.

We 💚Chess Emporium! The coaches are excellent and very friendly. Their web-based system for managing tournament and class schedules is very convenient. Their system for instruction makes it super easy for the kids to learn the concepts and apply them in real games. The tournaments (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) are usually very challenging and provide a great opportunity for kids of any skill level to practice their skills and progress in their ratings.

The Chess Emporium is a great place to learn, not only how to play chess, but to better yourself as a person. They teach children how to better themselves and work individually to gain self worth and meet personal goals. Team work, however, is also greatly stressed by the coaches. I recommend these guys every chance I can.

Chess Emporium has been a great partner in improving the chess playing ability of my son. He has enjoyed the coaching he received at his school club, he has enjoyed the challenging (and sometimes frustrating - but I consider that a good thing) Premium Center classes, but most of all, he has enjoyed the well-organized, professionally orchestrated weekly school team chess tournaments. I have always found the staff to be helpful and courteous. I highly recommend Chess Emporium.

I worked at Chessemporium from 2012 to 2017, started as a chess coach, but after a year of hard work, I had the opportunity to be a chess coach and also, increase and develop other skills, here you can do so much if you want to grow: Tournament Director, Google Analytics, Marketing, Sales, Accountant, Liaison, Web Developer) thanks Scott Freneaux for the trust and guidance. I strongly recommend others to join this awesome family, and benefit form this safe, and fun environment that Chessemporium offers to many children in Arizona.

A big thanks to Scott, of the Chess Emporium. His regular updates on school chess club and tournaments are always upbeat and supportive. He is doing a wonderful thing with Chess Emporium. The kids are learning valuable skills in a positive environment, and the activities and tournaments are run very well. We are so happy that our daughter is a part of this organization.

The chess emporium is a great and wonderful learning environment. The team is courteous and prompt in all communications with regards to questions i had. They offer a wide range of programs and curriculum at the scholastic level but also include programs for adults!

These guys are great. Both my sons are into chess and they love coming here to play.Most recently my son attended Summer Camp and kept asking us to come back.

At our school, here in Gilbert, the coach never invites the parents into the class. My son says the coach talks for 10 minutes and then lets the kids play while he plays on the computer. The tournaments are just money makers...Of course I also realize that its a business, but I agree that the coaches seem to busy to be of any assistance, as they are not accessible.

My older son, sho is now a computer science major at USC, LOVED this place and the coaches here -- it gave him a life-long love of chess and math and he still uses those skills to this day. He also got a perfect score on his Math SAT; no accident after growing up playing chess since the age of 5??And now this summer my younger son, who is 8 yrs old, has been attending summer camp at Chess Emporium and he loves it even more than he loved the after school program at his school, which was a lot!

I am very satisfied with the progress of my son. He is in kindergarten and I can tell how much he has been working. I appreciate the job of the teacher. I am planning to sig in my son for the next school year and summer camp.

If Chess Emporium were not in the schools, we never would have unlocked the passion our three children have for the game of chess. However, chess is more than a game for our children. Our kids developed new friendships, improved their performance in school, and discovered an internal drive to succeed unlike anything Ive seen in them before. The coaches weve worked with are not only accomplished chess players, but are also excellent teachers and show tremendous commitment to to the education of the students. While the after school programs are economical and helpful to introduce chess concepts, participation in tournaments provides valuable learning experiences. As has been noted by another reviewer, the tournaments are amazingly well run, always on-time, and almost flawless in their execution (amazing given the 200+ kids who participate). We find that the tournament fee is reasonable considering this is an all-day event, and is in-line with other chess tournaments in the area. For those who are more serious about their chess education, the Premium Center Classes are highly effective and recommended. All of the essential skills needed to become a proficient chess player are laid out in a structured program, which, with instructor guidance and qualifying tests at the end of each lesson, ensure each skill is understood before moving on. The teachers do a great job of reviewing each childs progress and proficiency before each lesson so that almost every child learns something new at each weekly class. Without a doubt, our children have become better chess players through the center classes than they otherwise could have with self–instruction. The Chess Emporium has something to offer for people of all ages (including Open sections at tournaments for those beyond 6th grade), but the Chess Emporiums classes and tournaments are largely populated by children in grades K-6. I suspect that this has much to do with the market, with kids finding other options for after school activities starting in 7th grade. Perhaps, if the Chess Emporium is successful in sparking the interest of kids in elementary school, like ours, they will find themselves with a growing base of chess enthusiasts in Junior High and High School.

My son learned how to play chess via Chess Emporium through his school program, and he love it. The coaches at Chess Emporium know how to work with kids very well.All the coaches that we met.... Alex, Leo, Ivan, Damien, Andrew just to name a few, are all top notch. The summer chess camp is very well organize, and I highly recommend those who thinking of having their kids playing chess should try it out.Without Chess Emporium program, I dont think kid would be able to get expose to playing chess at a high level.If you have problem with the coaches, speak to the owner, Scott, he will take care of it.Thank you Chess Emporium.

I went to the Chess Emporium, took chess lessons from the Chess Emporium and went to tournaments when I was from grade 3 to grade 7. I always enjoy playing the game. I felt like playing, practicing and learning chess help develop my mind when i was younger.To give a better example, when I was in k-6th grade i had a really hard time with reading, writing and spelling. I was often embarrassed to read or write in class. In 6th grade my teachers wanted to hold me back because of my difficultly with reading. But they noticed that I seem to have a great memory, good problem solving skills and great critical thinking. because of my skills in those areas they passed me on to the next grade. Now I have spent a lot of time, analyzing my life and using introspection and I can say without a doubt, that Chess was one of the things that help develop my young mind. I ll even go as far as saying that because my mind developed good critical thinking skills i was able to make better decisions during my high school and college years than some of my peers.My mother also spent much of my childhood working to provide for me and my brothers. She sent me to chess as a way to keep me occupied. when I was a child chess gave me confidence that I could learn, improve and be patient when I needed too.Now a days I work as a Chemist/Microbiologist preforming simplistic QC/QA for a beverage company. I don t think I would have even graduated from high school without chess. Not to say my mother didn t care, but every parent makes decisions as to what to do with their childs time, and how they are going to feed their family. She needed to work and I was able to play chess and today I still use the skills of the chess board behind my desk at work, thinking about how to solve a complex problem in the best manor possible.Joseph King

I feel I can share a unique perspective on this, since I was a student in the EARLY days of the Chess Emp and also worked for them for a few years during high school and college. I am now 23 and while Im not an avid chess player these days, it is still a hobby I enjoy very much and I have the Emporium to credit for that.First of all, I think the Chess Emp is an outstanding organization and its all thanks to the owner and founder, Scott. He is very passionate not only about the game of chess but also about teaching the game to new students. He doesnt get to be as involved as he was when I was playing since the company teaches to way more schools now, but he still teaches a few schools and his enthusiasm rubs off on the other coaches.On that note, I think the instructor is what makes or breaks the program from the child & parents standpoint. Most of the Chess Emp coaches really are caring and obviously smart people, but I will admit that there were a few duds of the bunch (and when youre dealing with chess, sadly there will be a few weirdos out there). For the people whose children only learned the basic moves, unfortunately you probably got one of these dud coaches, but I know from experience that these types dont last very long because their students arent engaged and dont take advantage of the tournaments and other programs the Chess Emp offers. My coaches as a child were terrific and motivated me to participate in state & national championship tournaments, even though I was one of only a few students at my school who was in the program, and most of the coaches there when I was working for them were very good. So if youre frustrated with the coaching at your school but want your child to stick with chess, I would suggest seeking out some of the coaches for private lessons (the most devoted ones are always buzzing around the Phoenix store).And that brings me to my last point: the students who get the most out of the program are the ones who do pursue the extracurriculars like tournaments, private lessons, etc. From a learning standpoint, it helps children reinforce and put to use the things they learn in the classes, so they dont just retain the basic moves. Honestly, the tournaments are relatively inexpensive, usually $20-$25 for a 5+ hour event, while the private lessons are probably only for the more serious players ($40-$60/hr depending on USCF rating of instructor). And the tournaments are VERY well-run. There are usually 200-400 students and their families there, but the coaches do a great job of keeping everything on schedule, which is far more difficult than it sounds (trust me, I KNOW). I have attended USCF-run tournaments with far less people that were complete chaos, so I feel one of the strengths of the Chess Emp is their ability to run tournaments efficiently while maintaining a safe, fun environment that isnt too terrible for parents.Obviously these activities arent for everyone, but understand that youre not getting the most out of the program if your child is simply attending the after-school class once a week for an hour.That all said, there is a point when most serious students in the program will spread their wings and move onto the USCF. But the ASCF is definitely much more beneficial for younger players since there is such a huge pool of players, and even then the Open tournament section often has highly-skilled middle-school players that would challenge USCF tournaments in terms of competition.At the end of the day, I really enjoyed my time with the Chess Emp as both a student and an employee, and I think chess is not only a great hobby as an adult but a great way to teach young minds to critically think and plan ahead! Hopefully you experience the same.

My son loved his instructor and the classes!

Everyone is very focus and supportive

Coaches are rude.website is unorganised

The owner is rude.