Students who play chess score higher in CA standards test

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) — A number of Oakland school students will be learning the difference between a king’s gambit and a queen’s defense, for the fourth year in a row.

Those are two tactics used in the game of chess and a relatively new tactic used by the city of Oakland to help low-income youth learn good judgment, both inside and outside the classroom.

This year, five more of the city’s Title 1 schools will receive chess lessons, courtesy of the Berkeley Chess School’s outreach program. Mayor Jean Quan says chess teaches students an important life skill — patience.

“I don’t know if you remember those famous studies about the kids and the marshmallows? And the kids that can wait a little longer before eating the marshmallows tend to be more successful in school, chess sort of teaches you that,” said Quan.

According to two independent studies, students who had 20 or more chess classes per academic year scored higher on the California standards test than did their peers who did not.

Source: http://abclocal.go.com