Chess Spreads Through Schools Across America

Educators tout game's benefits to scholarship, citizenship

The children, aged 5 through 11, crowd around tables or lie on their bellies on the floor, talking, laughing and letting their legs bounce in that jittery way kids have. The noise and energy levels in the large room are close to what you might expect from kids on recess or having a classroom party.

The nearly 60 kids, who have stayed after school to crowd into the library of Raleigh Park Elementary School near Portland, Oregon, are members of the school's chess club. Few of the club members will be winning, or even entering, any tournaments. But these kids - 15 percent of the school's 400 students - are becoming better students, learning something about themselves and having fun.

Formerly the refuge of nerds, dweebs, wonks and misfits, chess has become one of the hottest activities in schools across the United States. The chess programs, however, are not designed to turn out more grand masters or produce a new American world chess champion. Educators promote chess for the impressive academic gains it brings to students.

Playing chess improves mathematics and problem-solving skills of even the youngest players while developing their ability to make difficult choices, think logically and plan ahead. Academic progress in one California school district improved measurably within 20 days of introducing chess into the classroom. A Seattle school official has said, "Chess is the single most powerful educational tool we have at the moment."

No one has firm numbers on how many kids have taken up the game in recent years, but one academic has said that there has been "a veritable explosion of young chess players" across the United States.

Unlike most explosions, though, this one originates from many points at once. Just as the United States has no national school system, there is no federal office pushing chess. Individual schools interested in having a chess club generally look for support from one of a number of nonprofit organizations, made up of private citizens who have dedicated themselves to promoting chess in the schools.

One of the oldest of these organizations is the United States Chess Federation (USCF), founded in 1939. It facilitates the formation of school chess clubs across the country and organizes five nationwide youth chess tournaments every year, says ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Jerry Nash, the USCF's scholastic director.

Nash says that youth membership in the federation has jumped from 12,000 to 46,000 in the last 15 years. The national youth chess championships have also been setting impressive numbers, with a record 5,300 kids competing in last year's quadrennial SuperNationals tournament.

LOCAL PROGRAMS

Other programs are more local. One of the most successful is New York City's Chess in the Schools, which brings chess instruction to tens of thousands of children from kindergarten to eighth grade in 120 schools in low-income neighborhoods. The program provides each child with a chess set and a chess booklet published by the organization. But its most important contribution might be its 40 teachers, who visit each of the schools once a week, providing in-class instruction and often staying long after the last school bell has rung to help strengthen school chess clubs.

Chess in the Schools also organizes weekly citywide tournaments that draw upwards of 500 children, some as young as 5 years old. Organizers plan to double the program's size in the coming academic year, according to Marley Kaplan, the program's president and chief executive officer.

One of the newer chess organizations, First Move, founded in Seattle in 2000, takes a different approach. Instead of bringing chess instructors from the outside into the classroom, First Move trains the teachers to play chess well enough to teach it to their students, according to Wendi Fischer, a vice president of First Move. First Move has designed a curriculum to make the game a part of the formal program of instruction for second- and third-graders.

"Kids don't think about what they're learning. ... They're just having fun," Fischer said. First Move has been adopted by a number of large school districts across the country, including Seattle, Philadelphia and San Diego.

LIFE LESSONS

This rapid growth no doubt pleases First Move's founder, the entrepreneur and philanthropist Erik Anderson, who believes that the lessons learned from chess as a child have helped him throughout his life.

Anderson's belief in the character-building aspects of chess is shared with many of those who promote chess in the schools. Jerry Nash of the USCF talks of how the game raises self-esteem and helps young kids mature.

"The players must shake hands, be courteous to their opponents. They have to learn to persevere," he says.

Marley Kaplan of New York's Chess in the Schools says the program "teaches kids how to win gracefully and how to learn from defeat." It also builds a sense of responsibility. "Whatever happens across a chessboard is yours," Kaplan says, "win or lose."

Some even see a democratizing element in the great game. First Move's Wendi Fischer says, "Chess has a way of leveling the playing field. Kids who don't interact with each other very often will play chess with each other."

The "A" student will play with the top athlete. The child from a poor family will play the child from a rich family. "This is especially important," Fischer says, "in schools with lots of non-English speakers. They don't have to communicate verbally." Kaplan of Chess in the Schools adds, "It doesn't matter what age or gender or religion you are. Players are equals when they face each other across the board."

Meanwhile, back among the kids at Raleigh Park Grade School near Portland, Brian Enneking, a businessman, volunteers his time as the club's chess instructor. He is one of thousands of men and women who are not part of any national organization, but simply want to help kids play chess. He talks about his days with a local high school team that went on to win the national championship, and asks himself, "What can I do for society? What can I do to give back a bit?"

In fact, he has found his answer among the dozens of kids sitting at the grade school library tables or lying on the floor playing chess, becoming, though they would probably not realize it, better students and better citizens.

Source: U.S. Department of State

judythpiazza@gmail.com

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