The right moves: Susquehanna Twp. elementary students learn rules of chess
Published: Friday, April 08, 2011, 11:00 AM
Daegan Fuss and Nathan Klinger faced each other across a chess board. Daegan had a question for Jeff McGaw.
“He moved the pawn from here, and then” — Daegan showed his opponent’s pawn moving two spaces “he went like this.”
McGaw explained the rule.
“On the very first move, you can move your pawn one or two spaces, but after that you can only move one at a time,” McGaw said. “And you know how a pawn captures his opponents, right? Diagonal, right?”
Daegan and Nathan belong to Thomas W. Holtzman Jr. Elementary School’s new chess club — two of 60 members, out of a school population of about 670, who meet every Monday afternoon to learn and practice the rules and strategies of chess.
McGaw, parent of a Holtzman fifth-grader, volunteered to form the club because he loves chess and wanted to teach kids the game.
“It’s kind of where competition meets intellect,” he said. “That’s an attractive concept. We have a bunch of girls. We’ve got kids who are athletes. We’ve got kids who aren’t particularly into sports. We’ve got all kinds, which is exactly what I wanted.”
Fuss called the game “mind-confusing,” but in a good way.
“I just try to think what the other person’s doing,” he said. “It’s my chance to think, ‘What’s his plan?’ I know what the other person’s plan is going to be, and I try to move my pieces to prevent the plan.”
Third-grader Billy Daniels called the game “pretty fun.”
“It’s a game where you have to concentrate a lot, but it’s pretty interesting,” he said. “It’s like commanding your own army.”
Full article here.
Kudos to everyone.