How Does Chess Benefit Children?

CHESS IN THE SCHOOLS

How Does Chess Benefit Children?

• The game of chess helps young people learn to concentrate, think logically, overcome obstacles, spot patterns and categorize information.
• It helps with the development of problem-solving skills, planning, patience, focus of thought and self-discipline.
• Chess is a competitive activity, but , good sportsmanship and fair play are taught as essential elements of the game.
• Chess is a one-against-one activity, however, teamwork is also an important element. This element comes into play when Club members must practice and work on problems together.
• Everyone has a chance to contribute to the team in tournament play as chess clubs may enter as many players as they wish and various skill-levels or age-based sections are generally available.
• A scholastic chess club provides a challenge for students while helping build confidence and self-esteem. It offers a combination of educational and social activity.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Do I have to be a chess player to start a chess club?

No, you do not need advanced chess skills to organize a club. There are videos and simple instructional booklets that anyone can use to learn the game. You can almost always find a parent, older student or chess player in the community to help the group get started. You will want to read through a rule book and learn the basic elements of the game, but you do not have to be a skilled player yourself. Many clubs benefit from having non-playing organizers to support chess instructors.

Do I have to be a teacher to start a chess club?

No. A chess club may be sponsored by a parent or interested chess player in the community. Frequently, a parent and teacher will jointly sponsor a club, because being a teacher might make it easier to gain permission to use school facilities for meetings or tournaments.It is important to work with school administrators for recognition of chess clubs as a school function, part of the schools extracurricular program. While this may take some time, achievement of this goal will benefit both the chess club and the school.

How much time does a Chess club take?

It depends on how much time you are willing to invest. It could be as little as an hour a week, but it will vary depending on the number of students involved and their ages. Most clubs meet regularly for one to two hours per week. These meetings may be after school, in the evening or on weekends.

How much money is involved in starting a club?

You can start a scholastic chess program for very little money – substantially less than the cost of just one football uniform. All that is required are a few chess sets.

If local funding is not available, contact the U.S. Chess Trust for assistance on getting free chess sets and US Chess Federation memberships.

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Tips for Parents

TIPS FOR PARENTS

Tips On How to Tell if Your Child is Ready for Tournament Play:

• Your child already participates in a Chess Class and/or has a brother or sister experienced in tournament play.
• Your child shows an interest in participating in tournament play.
• If none of the above apply, but, your child shows an exceptional talent with chess and expresses interest in tournament play.
• Prior to participating in a chess tournament make sure that your child knows all the basic rules of the game, including the special moves, such as Pawn Promotion, en passant and Castles.

Novice Players – The Most Important Aspects of Tournament Play:

• Encouragement and Support: The first time your child plays in a tournament, make sure that he/she knows that they may lose most of the games if not all. This is natural since the other participants may be more experienced. Introduce the concept of playing chess in tournaments as a fun and enriching experience. Remember, practice makes perfect or we can say practice makes masters. The most important thing is to encourage and actively support your child in their interest to play chess.
• Notation: Writing down the moves is essential for your childs progress in chess. The main learning tool is based on studying and reviewing our games. In chess we learn from our mistakes, and try not to repeat them again.Usually for grades K-2, notation is strongly recommended, but, for grades 3-12 it’s a requirement. Therefore, before registering your child in a chess tournament it would be to their advantage if they learned notation.
• Touch Move and Piece Connection: If you intentionally touch your piece, you must move it if there is a legal way to do this. If you intentionally touch your opponents piece, you must capture that piece if possible. Pieces that are accidentally knocked over, brushed with a palm as you reach for another piece, hit with an elbow, or otherwise inadvertently touched do not need to be moved. If you need to adjust a piece because it is not aligned correctly on the board, you must say, adjust before you touch the piece. Players are not required to move the piece that they have adjusted in this way.

There are other rules for tournament play. In scholastic events, usually the Tournament Director will go over the rules before the start of the event.If you have any questions or comments you may post them on this site – it is a fast and easy way to get a quick response!

A Guide to Scholastic Chess

A GUIDE TO SCHOLASTIC CHESS

By Dewain R. Barber A.C.E.

This publication is provided free to all schools and scholastic organizers. It was created to help teachers and scholastic chess organizers who wish to begin, improve, or strengthen their school chess program.  It covers how to organize a school chess club, run tournaments, keep interest high, and generate parental and public support.

The following scholastic organizers reviewed this work and made many suggestions, which have been included.

Thanks go to Jay Blem (CA), Leo Cotter (CA), Stephan Dann (MA), Bob Fischer (IN), Doug Meux (NM), Andy Nowak (NM), Andrew Smith (CA), Robert Snyder (CA), Brian Bugbee (NY), Beatriz Marinello (NY), Tom Brownscombe, and many others too numerous to mention.

Chess Clubs and Chessplayers

The scholastic chess club combines educational and social activities.  Members come to play, to learn, to teach, and to get together with old friends and make new ones.  The players — no matter what their level of skill, experience, or age — speak a common language, and one that is often not understood in other areas of a person’s life.  The rivalries are friendly; the friendships are competitive.  A club can offer a wide variety of activities.  There can be speed chess or rated games, or both.  Club activities can include simultaneous exhibitions, lectures, and even formal classes taught by chess Masters and Experts.  Some players who regularly come to a club won’t ever try weekend scholastic tournaments. These avid club players may get their fill of “serious” chess by competing in a club ladder or one-game-a-lunch-period club tourneys. Ideally, the club will cater to all types of players — recreational as well as the serious tournament players.EVERY member is important to the success of the club.

Should You Start a Scholastic Chess Club?

Should you become involved in starting a club in your school?

Yes! It’s not at all necessary for you to be an “expert” player, or even to know how the pieces move! Every school in the country has kids who already know how to play chess, and more who would like to learn. “No one at our school plays chess” is not an acceptable excuse.  Most of the time kids are interested in learning and only need someone to organize and supervise them.

This guidebook will help you overcome many of the problems you will face in starting a club.

If you have not already done so, you may want to find out the location of the nearest chess club or scholastic/school club.

The United States Chess Federation (abbreviated USCF) and your state chapter are the best sources of information on officially affiliated club locations, scholastic organizers and coaches in your area.

These contacts can help direct you further in your efforts to organize a club or locate other active scholastic chess programs within your area.

Other information sources include local schools, school district offices, newspapers, libraries, chess and game stores, and your local recreational office.  You might also consider contacting the county Department of Education.

By all means, you should start a club if you have some support from students and the willingness to expend the moderate amount of energy and leadership it will take to make your club a success.  Gain support from the school board, parents, your principal, and other teachers as soon as possible.  Their aid will be useful later as the club becomes more active.

The fact that the National Association of Secondary School Principals regularly includes the National High School Chess Championship and the National Scholastic K-12 Grade Chess Championships on its “National Advisory List of Contests and Activities” may be of value in gaining official support for your club.

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