Children’s chess teacher, aged 12

A BOY from Hurley is raising money towards a school trip by giving chess lessons.

Jake Richmond, 12, spends his Sundays teaching children aged five to 10 on a giant chess set in his back garden.

He is raising money for a trip to Romania organised by his school, Crosfields in Reading.

Jake advertised his lessons on his mother Gemma’s Facebook page and received a big response from people wanting to learn how to play.

He now teaches about seven children regularly, usually from 10am to 3pm on a Sunday.

He said: “Some of them have regular lessons and some just do it every now and again.

“Whenever I put an ad up there’s like a flurry of people that want to try lessons.

“I teach them about the pieces, some strategies and how to play and then I might teach them some openings.

“It’s very easy to analyse what’s going on because all the pieces are so big and it makes it a bit more entertaining to push them around the board instead of just playing basic chess. It’s more fun. When it’s raining, I improvise and we sit in the conservatory and I get the timer out and teach them how it works on a board.

“I try to make it as entertaining as I can while teaching them. I think it’s going really well.”

Jack was introduced to chess at the age of five by his father, Warren, who owns a retail business.

He said: “He is the one that got me into it. I got a bit more into it when I was about seven and then recently I’ve started lessons.

“At school my friends were playing it and then I started getting more into it.

“Now I’m really passionate about chess. I play online and, on average, play for around an hour a day — I really enjoy it.

“I’ve represented my school and I’ve competed in two tournaments. The one I did at my school last year, I won all my games. It was against the senior school, so years 7 to 11, and we were in our house teams.

“The tournament out of school was in Caversham for years 7 to 9. I can’t exactly remember how I did but I was decent.

“I came around the middle as I won a couple of games and lost a couple.

“With chess I think there’s always more to learn and at the tournaments I really enjoy playing against other people. You have to compete against someone and then [the organisers] gauge how good you are and put you against someone.

“You and your opposition get a certain amount of time. It can sometimes be stressful when you’re playing and you don’t have much time left. The smartest move I’ve played was probably a queen sacrifice. You sacrifice your best piece for a win — it’s like a trap. It’s a mind game.

“When you finish it’s like, ‘Well done’. You shake hands and then you go for the next one.

“When you win, you can’t go dancing around, you have to sit down and be calm. It’s quite civilised. I’m mostly self-taught. I have had a few big chess lessons which I did online in lockdown.

“The tournaments have helped me and I had a coach at one point.

“I mainly play online now. Except for my lessons, I haven’t played on a normal board for a while. On chess.com, I play a lot and that’s my learning.”

He decided to go on the trip to Romania with his school as a way of developing himself.

Jake said: “It’s a bit of a mystery as they haven’t told us everything. They’re telling us it’s an educational project.

“For one of the weeks, I’m doing an educational project. In the small villages in Romania they don’t have very good education so I’m going there to help.

“Then for the second week, I’m trekking in some mountains and making my way to the city.

“It’s meant to be child-led. We’re going to be carrying everything we need, like tents and food and things, and cooking our own food.

“The adults will only help us if we’re actually in danger. It’s to teach us independence and stuff.

“At first I didn’t think I wanted to do it but then I saw the people that did it two years ago and I thought that it would be a great chance to test myself and I really enjoy travelling.” The trip is arranged for next July and participants have to raise around £2,000. So far, Jake has raised £1,400 through doing home chores, chess lessons and selling things online.

He said: “I think about £1,000 is going towards the actual trip and supplies and the other £1,000 is towards the charity and helping us with the educational project.

“I think we’re going to pay for some construction teams and things.”

Jake said: “When I get older, I’m not going to do chess as my career but I am going to probably carry on for a couple more years.

“It has got me starting to earn money and then I’m going to carry on after Romania, so it’s good. For my job, I think I want to go into retail or real estate.”

He also enjoys basketball, riding his bike and swimming.

Jake hasn’t quite managed to win over his younger brother, Max, 10. He joked: “I’ve lost him to video games.”

Mr Richmond said: “I used to play him but I don’t anymore. I showed him at age five and he was beating me by nine. Now I can’t play him at all — it’s embarrassing. I’m clearly not very good but Jake is very good.”

For more information, email fundraisingjake@outlook.com