Online Chess

Playing Games online

Playing chess games online

Game play is an important part of our e-Learning program. Students participating in Northern Star Chess e-Learning programs will be set up to play online chess games on Lichess.org.

Organising student access to online games

  • Based on the registration list of each program, we organise Managed accounts on Lichess for all students. Students participating in the same program (either a school organised program or one of the outside school hour programs) are organised into a private class in Lichess. This is the activity centre for the group of students in the program where they can see others in the group, play games against each other in the group and see any news to the group posted by the coach.
  • After the coach finishes an online chess lesson, the students will be paired for their weekly tournament games, just like they do at traditional school chess club sessions. Students log into their Lichess account and start their games according to the pairing posted by the coach. After their tournament game, they are free to play friendly games against others in the class, just like they do at traditional school chess club sessions.
  • Managed accounts do not require an email address. The name of each account is generated by Lichess using generic, non-offensive words (eg. DeterminedWombat) We adopt the policy of using the students first name and initial of surname for easy identification within the class. Their real name details are not visible on Lichess outside the class.
  • With a managed account, students are still able to take advantage of all the Lichess features for learning and chess game play, all the while having their identity protected by their Managed account name only. These accounts have chat facilities disabled.
  • This mode of game play activity allows coaches to observe playing style of all students, much more easily than traditional chess club. The coach has access to all the games played in the students' account. Lesson planning can more effectively be customised accordingly.