PROGRESS SYSTEM
The Elements Progress System helps pupils understand their development, stay motivated, and celebrate meaningful milestones as they learn.
It brings together two key parts: the Progress Pathway and Rewards. The Progress Pathway shows how pupils move towards each rank through lessons, Progress Builders, knowledge-based assessments, and rank milestones. Rewards help make progress visible, memorable, and motivating.
The system values more than winning. It recognises regular learning, positive academy values, improvement, and growing chess understanding across the Elements learning pathway.
Progress pathway
The Progress Pathway shows how pupils move towards each rank in a fair, structured, and meaningful way. It combines Lesson Attendance, Progress Builders, Assessments, and Ranks, recognising pupils for participation and understanding.
Lessons build the foundation. Progress Builders open the door. Knowledge earns the rank. Rewards celebrate the milestone.
Lesson attendance
Progress builders
Assessments
Ranks
Progress foundations
Lesson attendance
Regular lesson attendance helps pupils build the foundation they need before moving forward. Each lesson gives pupils time to learn new ideas, practise them in different ways, ask questions, and develop understanding through guided activities and play.
Attendance is checked as part of the pathway, but it does not directly award progress points or ranks. Pupils who join later or miss lessons for valid reasons can be supported through suitable catch-up opportunities.
Elements
Chess
Academy®
Elements
Chess
Academy®
Progress builders
Progress Builders are the actions and activities that help pupils earn progress points. They include regular play, puzzles, board activities, creative tasks, academy values, and tournament involvement.
These points recognise effort, engagement, participation, and positive learning habits. Reaching a point milestone can help unlock an assessment, but points alone do not award a new rank.
Assessments
Assessments are short knowledge checks that help confirm whether a pupil is ready for the next rank. They may include questions, board positions, explanations, or practical tasks linked to the rank’s learning focus.
Pupils complete an assessment after meeting lesson and point requirements. This final step confirms their understanding and, once passed, awards the next rank.
Elements
Chess
Academy®
Ranks
Pawn
Every journey in chess begins with the first move.
This level is reached when pupils first join the club, often with little or no previous knowledge of chess.
At this stage, they are introduced to the game of chess, the board structure, coordinates, the roles of the players, and how the pieces move.
They learn the fundamental rules, begin to understand how the club works, and are introduced to proper game conduct, including respectful behaviour, etiquette, and the basic expectations for play.
As they settle into the club environment, they grow in confidence, develop a sense of belonging, and become motivated to progress to the next levels.
Knight
Moves begin to have meaning.
At this level, pupils begin to understand the chessboard more deeply and how the game develops within it.
They learn about lines such as files, ranks and diagonals, explore different zones of the board, and start to recognise the importance of the centre. Pupils are also introduced to notation and begin learning how to read and record moves.
As they play more regularly, they begin to understand victory, defeat, and the different ways a game can end, including draws.
​​
This stage helps pupils make a greater sense of the game and builds their confidence to progress further.
Bishop
Moves become structure.
Pieces work together.
At this level, pupils begin to understand the deeper structure of chess positions. They explore important pawn formations, including pawn islands, pawn chains, isolated pawns and passed pawns.
They are also introduced to piece coordination, learning how pieces work together through ideas such as rook coordination, batteries and piece harmony.
As their understanding develops, they begin to recognise material balance, piece activity, tempo, development and initiative, helping them see how structure and coordination shape the game.
Rook
Safety is the foundation of strong chess.
At this level, pupils learn the importance of defence and king safety.
They explore different defensive ideas such as protection, blocking, neutralisation and well-timed counterplay.
Pupils are also introduced to proactive and reactive defensive thinking, learning how to prevent threats and respond to attacks effectively.
Concepts such as castling, creating luft and improving king safety help them understand how strong positions are protected and maintained.
Queen
Opportunities begin to appear on the board.
At this level, pupils begin to recognise attacking opportunities and tactical possibilities in their games.
They learn how to capture pieces with greater judgment and understand the importance of sequence and timing when making exchanges.
Pupils are introduced to attacking ideas such as weak squares and king attacks, while also exploring common tactical patterns including pins, skewers, forks and discovered attacks.
As their tactical vision develops, they start to notice hidden opportunities on the board and become more confident in turning these opportunities into concrete advantages.
King
The game reveals its full depth.
At this level, pupils begin to understand chess on a deeper strategic level.
They explore important strategic ideas such as attrition, blockade, fortification and the minority attack, learning how long-term plans shape the course of a game.
Pupils are also introduced to fundamental opening ideas, including the king’s pawn and queen’s pawn openings.
As their understanding grows, they begin to see connections between strategy, tactics and structure, allowing them to approach the game with greater clarity and confidence.
Progress point journey example (not a real person)
Rewards
Rewards help pupils celebrate meaningful milestones and feel proud of their progress. They are designed to make learning visible, memorable, and motivating, while keeping knowledge and understanding at the centre of the system.
Progress cards
Pupils can earn a Progress Card when they complete a rank. Each card represents a stage in their chess journey, from Pawn to King. Progress Cards help pupils see their development and give them something memorable to recognise their effort, learning, and achievement.
Academy collection
Selected Academy items become available as optional purchases. The Academy Collection can include items such as t-shirts, mugs, pens, or other branded materials that help pupils feel part of the Elements Chess Academy community.