When the Chess Mates team looked at chess for children in Australia a few years ago, two main problems stood out to us. The first was that nobody offered classes to children below the age of eight. With so much of a child’s brain development occurring prior to their fifth birthday, teaching such young children the creativity and critical thinking skills of chess would provide them with a head start on life. Not only could they learn how to use these skills in academia but also in their personal life as well. (You can read more about the benefits of chess for toddlers and kids here.) The second problem was that many chess classes were focused on the competitive nature of chess. Ash’s goal when he started Chess Mates was for children to grow into kinder, smarter, and more empathetic people. As such, lessons are focused on having fun and making new friends while learning. In Chess Mates classes, it is important for children to see that losing is not the worst thing that can happen to them and that they should congratulate the other player for a game well played. We were and still are determined to fix these problems and we’ve been teaching chess in a fun, non-competitive environment to kids aged 2 to 12 ever since.