Mental Strength Training with Alex Freuman
Week of July 26, 2025
Give your brain a workout this Family Week with challenging chess play for people at all levels and other mental strength training! Chess coach and puzzle enthusiast Alex Freuman brings his annual array of mental challenges back to the Ranch… don’t miss this chance to stretch your mind after a satisfying day of physical exertion!
Family: Social Chess & Optional Weeklong Tournament
Join your Alex and your fellow chess enthusiasts nightly from Sunday through Wednesday at 7pm for social chess games. Learn and play chess variants like “Hand and Brain” or “Bughouse,” and/or participate in chess lessons for those who wish! New chess puzzles will also be offered nightly.
For Ranch guests and Ranch staff looking to get some experience with real tournament play, this year you’ll also have the option to sign up for a multi-day chess tournament! You’ll learn how to use a chess timer for your games, as well as follow basic tournament play rules, just like in an official rated tournament.
To compete in the tournament, you must sign up for the tournament by Sunday night, and as a courtesy to your fellow players, please plan to commit to playing all 4 tournament games throughout the week.
Teens: Escape Room!
If problem solving, puzzle decoding and relying on your wits to get out of sticky situations are skills in your wheelhouse, then come compete against your peers in our first ever Family Week Escape Room competition! In this team challenge, your group will put your heads together to race against the clock and escape the room before time runs out!
Alex Freuman, MS, BA, is a high school STEM teacher who holds a BA in mathematics from Oberlin College and an MS in mathematics education from Hunter College in New York City. At Oberlin, Alex was a founding member of the Juggling Club, where he honed many circus skills, including fire juggling, fire eating and balancing tricks. Also, a long-time chess and puzzle enthusiast, Alex coaches the chess team at Nyack Highschool (Nyack, NY), is faculty advisor for the Nyack Highschool Puzzle Club, is the founder and President of the Rockland County Chess Club, and is a certified US Chess Tournament Director. His current United States Chess Federation (UCSF) rating is 1900, and he hopes to break 2000 before his children beat him to it. Alex is passionate about creating community and fostering multi-generational connections through the joy of chess.