Who says kids are bored with board games?
Sport of chess is exploding in Highland Park
December 11, 2008
By DAVE MASTERSON
Want to see how popular the game of chess has become in Highland Park?
Check this out, mate.
An estimated 100 young members of the Highland Park Scholastic Chess Group will be competing in its first District 112 tournament Saturday at Edgewood Middle School.
And the man most responsible for getting the seven-month-old organization off the ground can’t wait to see the response of the participants.
“Have you ever been to a kids tournament?” asked Highland Park’s Jerry Neugarten. “They’re great. And the kids absolutely love them.
They’re an exciting experience for kids.”
The tourney is the culmination of an intense community effort, which has resulted in four chess groups covering the entire district.
Neugarten, who ran a scholastic chess organization in the state of New York for 11 years, is the driving force for the implementation of the Highland Park organization that distributes 11 schools into four clubs that meet either once or twice a week.
During the sessions, kids play informally for 45 minutes, then break down into skill-level groups for instruction, then play informally again at the end of the night.
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Chess is booming everywhere but the uscf. Nice job Mr. Goichberg.