Game of Life through Chess

Teaching the game of life through chess
Mundelein Review – Waukegan,IL,USA

For as long as Frank Swindell can remember, chess has been a part of his life. He still has the first wooden chess game he bought for 75 cents as a child.

And he wanted to share his love of the game with the next generation, which is why he started his company, Chess Utopia, 14 years ago.

What began as a volunteer job teaching his children and their friends after school has blossomed into a full-time position where Swindell teaches chess to 300 to 500 kids a week at seven schools and several park districts. He also teaches a gifted program in the summer and is going to start teaching senior women in Libertyville soon. After his students improve, they are invited to attend his chess center to begin practicing for tournaments.

“I hope they gain life skills,” Swindell said. “I’m constantly explaining to them that if they make a bad choice in life, just like if they make a bad choice in chess, they have to live with it.”

One of the schools Swindell teaches at is Fremont Intermediate School. About two years ago, 10 of those students started participating in tournaments, and since the start of this school year, the team has won four scholastic tournaments, which were the Benjamin Scholastic, the Mayor Daley’s Holiday Classic, the Chess Utopia competition and the Arlington Heights Chess Tournament.

Two of those Fremont tournament players are Jeff and Joey Bikus, who have both been named top-100 chess players in the nation for their grade, Swindell said. He added that .01 percent of scholastic players earn that honor.

“I felt pretty good about accomplishing that,” Joey said.

Here is the full article.