Community
The work that happens outside fee-paying schools.
Most of what we do is not in schools that can afford us. These are the programmes our donors and state partners fund.
Government school outreach
412 government schoolsTwo-thirds of our work is in government and low-fee private schools. Where a school cannot fund the programme, our donors do.
Girls in Chess
47% female participationGirls drop out of competitive chess far faster than boys. Our all-girls clubs, women coaches and dedicated tournaments exist to change that.
Rural chess centres
34 centresWeekend centres in district towns across Telangana, Odisha and Bihar, so children outside the metros have somewhere to keep playing.
Anganwadi and NGO partners
26 partner NGOsWe supply equipment, curriculum and coach training to NGOs already trusted in their communities, rather than duplicating their work.
Why we run it this way
A chess programme that only reaches children whose parents can pay for enrichment is a chess programme that widens the very gap it claims to close. We took the decision early that the majority of our delivery would be in government and low-fee schools, and we have held to it.
That has consequences. It means our funding is harder to raise, our logistics are harder — a coach in rural Bihar covers a great deal more ground than one in Bengaluru — and our results take longer to show. We think it is the right trade.
The Girls in Chess strand exists for a similar reason. Girls join chess clubs in roughly equal numbers to boys and then leave much faster, and a programme that shrugs at that is not really open to everyone.
Fund a school, or bring us to yours
₹40,000 covers a full thirty-week programme for one government school — coach, equipment, workbooks and teacher training included.