Chess tournament is cool, and ‘good for the brain’
by Jo Rafferty
June 1, 2007
Gardnerville, NV
Chess can be beneficial to the mind, and Saturday about 60 brains will be getting a workout at Jacks Valley Elementary School’s annual chess tournament.
“When I started doing this I hooked up with Derrick (former Douglas County Deputy District Attorney Derrick Lopez),” said special education instructor Steve Rosenbloom. “He supplied me with research. Chess helps math scores, even raised IQs in one study I saw.”
Rosenbloom, who has helped organize the annual chess tournament for six years, said even penal institutions use chess as a way of making the inmates realize there are consequences for their actions.
Sixty students have signed up for the JVES Chess Club this year, he said.
“It’s a way cool game and kids get into it very, very quickly,” Rosenbloom said. “It’s good for their brain and they really love it.”
This will be the fourth year that Lopez will help with the tournament. Others who volunteered are about 10 parents of children at the school who helped Rosenbloom with training the students. Volunteers are needed during the tournament to be scorekeepers, judges, game monitors, pizza and soft drink sellers.
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“It’s a way cool game” is an interesting quote.
I know many chess players who are ashamed of the fact that they are avid chess players and will not tell their non-chess friends about it. We should not have this attitude but rather be proud of our game and promote it however we can.