Hello Students, Parents, and Chess Enthusiasts!
As we step into 2024, I wanted to share our annual report for the year “The Chess 2023 report @ Chess Gaja.”
A quick throwback to last year’s report if you haven’t read it last year.
We had an exciting 2023 in terms of classes, camps, student performances, and rating growth including a 445 rating point gain by a student.
We have crunched the data to give you an idea of how amazingly we did in 2023.
National Master at Chess Gaja
Vaseegaran is trained by a team of our GMs in the academy and is working to get IM norms in 2024!
Candidate Masters at Chess Gaja
We had two of our academy students become Candidate Masters (USCF rating above 2000) Varun and Vijay Anandh become Candidate Masters this year.
Varun earned the Candidate Master with his stupendous performance in the Ohio Congress tournament in September 2023. Varun has had a solid improvement in 2023 as he started the year with a USCF rating of 1965 and is closing the year with a rating of 2085.
Even though Vijay hasn’t been officially awarded the Candidate Master title, he has crossed the 2000 rating this year and should be awarded the title soon! Vijay had very consistent performances this year and he crossed the 2000 rating in the TCR Houston Fall Championship 2023
Tournament Victories and Medals
We don’t have the exact data, but based on scrutiny by the Chess Gaja team we can confidently say that our students became champions in about 25+ chess tournaments this year
Providing a quick snapshot of some of those notable tournament victories
- Alistair won the South Australian Candidates Chess Tournament in February 2023
- Abir won the Elite Chess Challenge in Illinois in March 2023
- 6 Medals were won by our students in the US Middle School Chess Championship
- Anish tied for first place in the Houston Chess Studio April 2023 tournament
- Eugene Boheim of South Africa Qualified to represent South Africa in the World Youth Chess Championship
- 3 Students of Chess Gaja represented their states in the Rockefeller National Tournament
- Manav won the Hosworth Chess Tournament that was conducted in Adelaide, Australia
- Priyansh won the Gambito tournament in San Diego, California in February 2023.
Chess Rating improvement and opening a chess rating!
We just couldn’t believe our eyes when we crunched the numbers, and here you have the data on what we found on the rating gain of the students for 2023.
- 100+ rating point gain – 11 Students
- 200+ rating point gain – 3 Students
- 300+ rating point gain – 10 students
Our student performances for the year were so great, and the highest rating gain this year by a student was 445 USCF rating points!
10 Students this year got their initial chess rating. The Chess Gaja team is so excited to see what the future holds for these young chess players.
We had, on average throughout the year, 20 students in the Top 100 USCF rankings in their respective age categories.
Program Expansion, Tech updates, and Chess Gaja’s global presence for online chess classes in 2023
Chess Gaja launched group classes for students in Asia-Pacific friendly time zones, besides our existing programs for US, India, and Singapore students in 600-1000 and 1000-1500 levels for students in multiple different time zones.
We also added 4 new countries to the list of countries where we have Chess Gaja students! We now have students in Maldives, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and Luxembourg.
We are also consistently updating our systems to give the best learning experience for the students. List of some of the technological and operational updates improving the student’s experience.
- We are transitioning our 1-1 classes to LMS Software for a better learning experience
- In December 2023, we launched gamification aspects in our 1-1 as well as group classes
- As our student numbers increase, we want to get as much student and parent feedback as possible, so we have launched a feedback tab on the right side of our website.
- We have also implemented a feature that enables students to give feedback for a group class as soon as the session is completed. We are working on expanding this feature to our 1-1 students as well.
- We have completely revamped our website highlighting our star students and a section showcasing the reviews given by our students and parents. If you haven’t yet given us a review, requesting you to take 2 minutes of your time to give us feedback on our services.
- We have revamped our Chess Tournament Calendar list for easy viewing
- We have redesigned to give you 1-click access to our old Chess Gaja newsletter and the GM Priyadharshan Kannappan chess improvement blogs.
- We have launched class payment options via ACH Bank Transfer for our students in the USA. If you would like to make a transfer using ACH Bank Transfer instead of a payment link using a debit/credit card, reach out to our team and we can help you out with the upcoming payments.
Our continuous efforts in the chess ecosystem be it the chess classes, chess news, chess calendar, and student performances were recognized by FeedSpot, as Chess Gaja is ranked 2nd, right behind Chessbase India in the category of 20 Best Indian Chess Blogs and Websites
What’s in store for Chess Gaja in 2024
– As # students increase at Chess Gaja, we are moving our student performances weekly, reporting to a consolidated blog called “Chronicles of Chess Champions”.
– We are working on a plan to offer multiple batches of the same level on different days of the week to accommodate the student’s request for classes at the student’s convenience.
– We have been experimenting with YouTube shorts for the past 2 months in 2023, and we have received positive feedback. In 2024, we are planning to release 10 Shorts format videos every month, and the videos will focus on chess improvement for players of all levels and ages.
– We are working on launching a regular Parent-Teacher Feedback session, where the students can get additional feedback from titled players outside of their assigned coaches.
Lots of other ideas are also on the cards for 2024. In the meantime, we request you to share your input, suggestions, and any problems you may have encountered to enhance our services and make your user experience better.
Thank You to all the stakeholders of Chess Gaja
As we checkmate 2023 and castle into 2024, a heartfelt thank you to our incredible Chess Gaja family. Parents, coaches, non-coaching staff, and students – you’ve all moved mountains this year, fueling our growth and igniting chess dreams.
Your dedication, passion, and those crucial referrals have made Chess Gaja one of the fastest-growing chess ecosystems. We’re humbled by your trust and excited to unveil new learning moments, champion victories, and keep the chess spirit thriving in 2024. Game on!
Remember, every move on the chessboard is a step towards progress. Keep learning, keep practicing, and most importantly, keep believing in your chess dreams. We’ll be by your side every step of the way. Game on, Chess Gaja family!
Regards
GrandMaster and FIDE Trainer Priyadharshan Kannappan
