Lincoln Chess Foundation K-12 Summer Chess Camp
Date: July 27-July 31, 2026
Location: Boys Town National Headquarters, 14100 Crawford ST, Omaha, NE 68010
Camp Director: Bruce Draney, Treasurer Lincoln Chess Foundation
Sessions: M-F AM session is 9:00-11:30 with Lunch (Complimentary) from 11:30-12:30, afternoon session is from 12:30-3:00 PM
Camp attendees will be grouped by ability and age into these 4 groups and parents should use the guidelines when deciding in which group their child would be most comfortable.
Group I: Beginners-Players in this group should at least know the value of the pieces and how they move and how to set up the board. Ratings guide if applicable would suggest unrated players with no tournament experience or rated players with ratings between 100 and 799.
Group II: Advanced Beginners-Players in this group should be rated between 800-1200 and have played in rated tournaments. Players in this group should have a basic knowledge of checkmates and how to play the game and hope to improve their rating in the future.
Group III: Intermediate-Players in this group should be rated between 1201 and 1699 and are experienced in rated tournament play in either scholastic or open events. Players who have played in RBOs can consider this group or the Advanced Beginners group.
Group IV: Advanced group open to players rated 1700 or above or by permission as space is limited to only 10. These players will be working all week with a special guest of GM or IM status.
All groups will have the chance to play our special guest during the week regardless of which group they enroll in.
Fees: $299.00 per child by 7/1/2026, $325.00 after until all slots are filled. No on site registration as enrollment will close once we reach a maximum of 50 campers.
For parents or guardians:
AM drop off for the camp is no earlier than 8:15 AM and pickup at the end of the day is no later than 3:45 PM.
Lunch is provided at 11:30 each day and is included with your enrollment fee. Your child can bring a lunch from home if preferred, just let us know.
Each enrollee will receive a complimentary T-shirt so we will need to know shirt size
Food allergies: Please let us know if your child has food allergies since lunch will be served each day.
Cell phones: Children attending the camp can only use cellphones during lunch and and before 9 and after 3 each day. Please tell your child they must turn off their cellphone during the camp sessions.
Discipline: Our teachers are there to teach your children valuable chess skills not to handle discipline problems. We expect all the children to behave respectfully to everyone including their instructors and their fellow campers. If children become discipline problems they will be asked to leave the camp and no refunds will be issued once the camp has started. We want this to be a fun and memorable experience and we won't let one or two children who don't really want to be there ruin it for everyone else.
USCF Membership is NOT required to attend the camp.
We expect the camp to fill up fast as our price is quite reasonable for 25 hours of intensive but fun chess instruction. In order to keep the classes small and more personal, we are limiting our numbers to no more than 50.
If you have questions you can contact me at gambiteer49@yahoo.com. If you have more than one child that wants to attend you will need to fill out the registration form for each child.
Parents will be asked to acknowledge that they have read and understand the information about drop off and pickup times food allergies, cell phone policies, and discipline expectations for all children.