Getting schooled in chess basics

Article published May 19, 2007
Chiles students get schooled in chess basics
CHAD SMITH
Special to The Sun

Dressed as a king chess piece – complete with a drawn-on moustache – Lawton Chiles Elementary School Assistant Principal Bill Powell tried to convey to his roughly 800 pawns Friday that chess can be fun.

All week, students had been learning the fundamentals of chess to prepare for the eighth-annual Chess Challenge, which rotates to a different area elementary school each year.

The students played against experienced chess players – some only in the first-grade themselves – from area elementary and middle schools.The Chiles students were given their own chess sets in hopes that they would continue playing.

Powell said sponsors donated about $12,000 to pay for the sets and T-shirts students were given commemorating the event.

The president of the Alachua County Scholastic Chess Association, Robert Kaplan-Stein, helped put on the event and said that children can learn the game easier than most adults.

“The kids are just sponges,” said Kaplan-Stein, wearing a chess-piece tie.

Aside from being fun for kids, he said the game can help their logic and concentration skills.

Here is the full article.