The Certificate of Excellence has been designed by chess professionals, and is a progessive chess course for everyone starting chess or interested in improving their expertise in chess
Who is the Certificate of Excellence suitable for?
Each certificate level comes with information and puzzles, which makes the Certificate of Excellence ideal for everyone – schools, clubs, parents and juniors
How do I enter the Certificate of Excellence scheme?
There are three different levels –
Bronze – £5.00
Silver – £5.00
Gold – £10.00
The majority of players start with the Bronze Certificate. There is an exam for each level of Certificate of Excellence, priced as shown. When you have read the course notes and mastered the quizzes, you can apply to take the exam via the button at the foot of the page. When you pass the exam you receive a Certificate of Achievement. The Bronze and Silver exams are each made up of 15 multiple choice questions, which should take no more than 45 minutes to complete; the Gold exam is more involved and requires explanations of your moves and your reasoning. Please contact the ECF Office Email: office@englishchess.org.uk with any questions that you have about the CoE.
Bronze Certificate of Excellence
The bronze level is ideal for those who are just starting chess and also those who wish to learn more about the most beautiful of games. The course includes –
- How the pieces move
- Position evaluation
- Captures and checks
- Basic checkmates
- Stalemate
The Bronze certificate comes with a large number of puzzle sheets, which test your basic chess knowledge in preparation for your Bronze exam. These puzzle sheets are excellent practice and are available here for you to print off and complete
Bronze Puzzle Sheets
These puzzle sheets cover basic chess knowledge – when you can answer ALL of these questions correctly, you are ready for the Bronze Certificate of Excellence exam
Silver Certificate of Excellence
The silver level is the perfect follow-on from the bronze. It includes skills such as –
- Notation and writing your moves down
- Special pawn moves: under-promotion and en-passant
- Development and basic openings
- Checkmate in one and two move puzzles
- Some essential checkmates
- Discovered and double checks
- Forks, Pins and Skewers
- Outposts
The Silver Certificate comes with associated skill sheets, which can also be downloaded here
Silver Skill Sheets
| 1 – Language |
| 2 – Forks |
| 3 – Double Attacks |
| 4 – Skewers |
| 5 – Pin |
| 6 – Discovered Attacks |
| 7 – Removing the Guard |
| 8 – Rook & Queen checkmates |
Gold Certificate of Excellence
Please contact the ECF Office for further information.
Email: office@englishchess.org.uk
If you’re happy that you’ve completed the Bronze or Silver puzzle/skill sheets and would like to take the exam, you can enter below and pay online —
| CoE online entry |
Chess Booklets
Chess Booklet One | Chess Booklet Two
These booklets, which you are able to download as PDFs or read online in your browser, are suitable for players and potential players in the grading band 0-75 (0-1200 Elo). They were designed for children, but there is no reason at all why adults wishing to learn the basics of chess may not use them. The booklets were first published in 2009, and the second edition has benefitted from a complete redesign. This has been a joint project between the ECF and St Catherine’s School in Bramley, a co-sponsor of the ECF National Schools Competitions and a strong advocate of chess among children. We do hope that you enjoy these booklets and find them useful.