Master the Step Method with the CAISSA Step Method Exams
In August 2024, Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club introduces the CAISSA Step Method Exams. Ever since Caissa was founded in 2012, we have been successfully training and teaching over thousands of students using the internationally renowned Step Method. Now is the time to make the next step in this process. We have developed exams so you can test yourself.
Working your way through the books can be tough and challenging and finishing a book can be very rewarding. But have you ever wondered, after finishing a book, “How well do I master the techniques that I have learned in this book?”.
Well here is your chance!
These exams are specially designed by Caissa, under supervision of IM Matthew Tan who was trained by Step Method authors IM Cor van Wijgerden and Rob Brunia for 6 years when he was a youth player, to test how well you master the Step Method. Pass the exam and earn your own Caissa Step Certificate! There are six levels of exams, ranging from Stepping Stones all the way up to Step 5. In the list below you can find the requirements to be eligible for taking part in the individual exams*.
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Stepping Stones exam (duration 45 minutes). Requirement: finished Stepping Stones 1 & Stepping Stones 2
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Step 1 exam (duration 60 minutes). Requirement: finished Step 1, Step 1 Extra & Step 1 Plus
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Step 2 exam (duration 60 minutes). Requirement: finished Step 2, Step 2 Extra, Step 2 Plus, Step 2 Thinking Ahead**
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Step 3 exam (duration 75 minutes). Requirement: finished Step 3, Step 3 Extra, Step 3 Plus, Step 3 Thinking Ahead**
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Step 4 exam (duration 75 minutes). Requirement: finished Step 4, Step 4 Extra, Step 4 Plus, Step 4 Mix (optional)
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Step 5 exam (duration 90 minutes). Requirement: finished Step 5, Step 5 Extra, Step 5 Plus
*) In case of doubt, the coach can give a test to see if the student is ready to participate in the exam
**) This book can be replaced by the mix books
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We will be holding exams 2-3 times per year only. The next one is 25 August 2024.
Q & A
Q: Wait, I already have a FIDE rating - why do I need this?
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A: A FIDE rating is an important indicator of your relative strength, how you compare to others particularly in terms of chess playing results. And at Caissa we fully acknowledge that; to that degree that going back in the early days of Caissa we were the first to provide FIDE ID with help from HKCF or directly through FIDE CIS (Chess in Schools) to our students so we could organise FIDE rated tournaments alongside HKCF. However, there are other indicators that compare you against yourself.
In other sports, a sprinter, swimmer, skater trains to get a little faster versus where he/she was before - and that is the indicator of how ready he/she is for competitive play. The Step method and exam show you exactly that and give you pointers which areas to improve entering competitive (FIDE rated) play.
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Q: Wait, I skipped Step 1, did Step 2 and am doing Step 3 book now, never done any Plus or Extra. Can I do the Step 3 exam?
A: Aha! You are not a Caissa student! We are very much aware that other chess centers or private coaches hand out higher Step books easily. It is very feel-good to get from Step 1 to Step 2 and Step 3 or 4 in a few months. But we at Caissa know the system. We grew up with it. The creator, IM Cor van Wijgerden, Youth Head Coach of the Royal Dutch Chess Federation, trained some of us personally with his material - and many European IM and GM players have the Step method as their base. The comprehensive training manuals in 6 volumes are crucial to understand the various angles to the same chess topics dealt with in different sub levels of a Step level. Teaching the Step method requires trained trainers in the Step method. That's us at Caissa.
Some students coming to us who are working, for example, in Step 3 books given from elsewhere, have to restart in Step 1 Plus and/or some of the Step 2 sub-level books with us. It is not nice to the student or parent - but we don't mind to fill in the gaps if and as required if students are high in Step books that were merely used as simple tactic puzzles one could also do online. The Step method is a system, a pipeline, to manage continuous improvement.
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The Exam is a calibrated view of your true level.
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Additional Info
The Step method of Rob Brunia and IM Cor van Wijgerden has been around since 1987. In the1980s, Cor van Wijgerden, who was at that time the national trainer of the Royal Dutch Chess Federation, made many stencils with exercises for the Dutch top youth and women top players. But demand for this kind of exercises for lower level players began to grow too and experienced trainer Rob Brunia joined Cor van Wijgerden and through both their profound knowledge of chess technical and didactic aspects the Step Method evolved into a solid teaching method that fits the development of a child.
Nowadays the Step ethod is successfully adopted by many chess clubs and schools in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria and steadily the method is gaining popularity throughout the world.
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The whole course consists of six manuals, specifically for chess teachers or trainers (the first steps are also suitable for parents), and 20 workbooks (3/4 for each step) which can be used by the students themselves. Total 27 books. 26 of them have been translated in English.
Many books have been published in other languages than Dutch, like German, French, Swedish, Turkish, Greek, Czech, Azerbaijan and Danish.
It is important to understand that the Step method is not just about solving (mostly tactics) puzzles. Puzzles are a critical tool to practice concepts and acquire skills, like pattern recognition. However, more than all that, the Step Method offers a platform, a chess didactic context, from which trainers can support chess growth of their students through playing games and analysis, just as important as doing puzzles.
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