Chess.et is bringing ChessKid — the children's chess platform built by Chess.com — to Ethiopian families, through a locally organized one-year program. Your child learns and plays on ChessKid. We handle the Ethiopian side: registration, payment, and support in Amharic.
Takes one minute. No payment today — nothing is collected until we have enough families to launch.
The curriculum, video lessons, puzzles, games against other children and progress tracking all happen on ChessKid.com, built by Chess.com specifically for kids.
We handle registration in Ethiopia, communicate with you in Amharic, and arrange payment locally. We don't run a second curriculum alongside ChessKid.
Ask any Ethiopian parent whose child shows a spark for the game where to send them, and the honest answer is: nowhere. There are clubs, there are tournaments, there are generous volunteers — but there is no structured programme that takes a seven-year-old who has just learned how a knight moves and carries them, week by week, to real strength.
Meanwhile children in Addis are already playing chess on phones — usually against adults, on platforms built for adults, with adult chat and adult advertising.
We approached ChessKid.com about this, and reached a rate deep enough to put a world-class children's programme within reach of ordinary Ethiopian families. That is what this page is about.
Across two dozen controlled studies, the clearest transfer is into mathematical reasoning — the same pattern recognition and sequencing the subject demands.
A child who learns to look for a better move before touching a piece practises something no worksheet teaches: pause, check, own the outcome.
Chess gives children frequent, low-stakes failure with a clear cause. Over a year, that quietly rebuilds how a child reacts to being wrong.
No equipment, no field, no fee at the door. A child with a phone can play a child in Mexico City tonight, and the rules are identical.
We'll be straight with you. Chess is not magic, and one large UK trial found no academic effect at all. What the evidence consistently shows is that gains come from consistency and dosage — roughly a lesson a week across a school year — not from simply signing up. That's exactly why we're offering a structured year rather than a one-off class, and why we'd rather you register only if your child will actually use it.
Effect sizes from the Sala & Gobet meta-analysis of 24 studies (mathematics d=0.38, cognitive ability d=0.34, literacy d=0.25), which also identifies the 25–30 hour threshold. The null result referenced is Jerrim et al.'s randomised UK trial.
You register through Chess.et instead of figuring out the ChessKid signup and international payment process yourself.
We communicate with you in Amharic and help with setup and account access once the program launches.
Your child gets a ChessKid Gold account for the agreed one-year period. That's the product — we don't add a second one.
Chess.et's own free Learn course, puzzles, analysis and play stay available to your child too — but they're separate, general Chess.et features, not part of this program.
ChessKid carries no ads. Nothing is trying to sell your child anything while they learn.
ChessKid accounts can't interact with general Chess.com users. Your child plays children.
Usernames and club names are reviewed by ChessKid staff before they go live — a 24 to 48 hour wait, by design.
A guardian account lets you see game history and report cards, and reset your child's password whenever you want.
Chess.et itself never asks a child for personal details, and our free Learn course works with no account at all. See the privacy policy.
Paid once, in Birr, through Telebirr or bank transfer — no international card or currency conversion needed on your side.
Thank you — your place is reserved. Our team will process it and reach out with next steps. We'll call or SMS the number you gave as soon as we have enough families to launch. No ChessKid account exists yet — we'll tell you as soon as one is ready for your child.
ChessKid.com is a children's chess platform built by Chess.com — lessons, puzzles, videos and games against other kids, walled off from the adult site. Your child will learn and play on ChessKid. Chess.et organizes the local registration and one-year membership.
Chess.et handles local registration, communicates with you in Amharic, arranges payment through Telebirr or bank transfer, and hands your child a ChessKid Gold account and guardian login for one year. Chess.et does not run a second chess curriculum, a separate ranking system, or its own tournaments as part of this program — everything your child learns and plays lives on ChessKid.
No. ChessKid has Android and iPhone apps and works in a phone browser. A shared family phone is enough, and games can be played without a connection.
That's the ideal starting point — ChessKid's curriculum begins with how each piece moves. If you'd like to start today at no cost while you wait, Chess.et's own separate free Learn course teaches those same first steps across 55 lessons.
Yes. ChessKid carries no ads, can't interact with general Chess.com users, reviews every username and club name by hand before it goes live (24 to 48 hours), and gives you a guardian account to see game history and reset your child's password whenever you want.
ChessKid's own lessons are in English, though most of the teaching is visual — a child follows the board more than the words. Everything on the Chess.et side, including setup help and parent support, is in Amharic.
ChessKid is designed for roughly 4 to 14 year olds. Older teenagers are welcome, but they'll often prefer playing and analysing directly on Chess.et, which is free.
4,500 Birr per child for the year. You pay nothing when you register — registering only reserves a place and tells us you're interested.
Only after we call to confirm the program has enough families to launch — never at registration. Your child's one-year ChessKid membership starts once we hand over the account after payment, not from your registration date.
If we never reach enough families to launch, you pay nothing and lose nothing. If your child's year does start, we'll contact you again before it expires so you can decide whether to renew.
Your name, phone number and each child's age — nothing else. We never ask for a child's name at registration, we don't sell data, and you can have your entry deleted at any time through the contact page.
Yes — use the "+ Add another child" button on the form to add as many as you need, all in one submission. Each child gets their own age field and their own ChessKid account later.
Tell us anyway. Everything on Chess.et itself — the full Learn course, puzzles, analysis and play — is free and stays free. We're also looking for sponsors to fund places for children whose families can't pay, so register and say so when we call.
Probably one who has never been given a structured way to improve. If that might be your child, spend a minute on the form.
Register your interest 🎈