Artwork by Mike Magnan
Someday, they may be kings
BY SARAH HOFIUS
STAFF WRITER – The Times-Tribune / Scranton, PA
They hit the clock and recorded moves. They stared at rooks and bishops.
Sixteen moves later, Igor Andrzhievsky, 11, beat D’Mitri Yakushin, 9.
One hour after their chess lesson in Jessup began, the boys wanted a rematch.
“It’s almost like you’re tricking the kids into learning,” said national chess master Gerald Bailleau, of Jessup, who teaches children as young as 5 how to play chess.
Across the country, chess group representatives say more young people are playing the game now than ever.
Of the 84,000 members of the U.S. Chess Federation, half are younger than 19 and a third are younger than 15.
Those record-setting numbers can be attributed to increased attention on the benefits of the game — learning discipline and higher-level thinking, chess educators say.
Schools in many areas of the country, including New York and Philadelphia, have started incorporating chess into curriculums.
Several area school districts have after-school chess clubs, and at least one local school incorporates the game into its curriculum.
The Geneva School, a private Christian school in Olyphant, has taught chess to third- through sixth-grade students since it opened 10 years ago.
Chess lessons provide strategy and thinking skills, teacher Tami Stange said. “Before you get to something, you have to think ahead,” Ms. Stange said.
The students get a lesson once a week. During free time, they play it by choice.
And more students are playing it by choice, said Joan DuBois of the U.S. Chess Federation.
Chess gives students self-esteem and helps them learn how to plan ahead, Ms. DuBois said. “It helps them realize that when they make a decision, there will be consequences, both positive and negative.”
The full article is here.
this proves they want to play when they dont have to pay
This is interesting on a few levels. A recent Time Magazine cover article talked about what kind of skills kids would need to learn in school in order to compete in the global marketplace in the 21st century and the article talked about being able to solve problems creatively. I think chess is really good at that because each chess game presents multiple complicated problems that you have to solve. On a completely separate note, if those statistics are correct and the USCF’s membership is between 1/3 and 1/2 scholastic chess players, it makes Susan Polgar’s candidacy for USCF board even more compelling. We know that she is devoted to scholastic chess as a tournament organizer and as a mother and that she will represent our interests well.