Chess: The Right Moves

by Leslie B. Lipschultz, Vice president, Food for Thought Software, Inc.

With the mandates of No Child Left Behind, educators and community providers are especially interested in offering after-school enrichment activities that will support academic achievement. A formidable challenge facing providers is to be able to make available high quality activities that also engage kids. Such programs can serve as powerful educational tools in the more relaxed after-school setting, with the potential to achieve what one provider calls “stealth teaching.”

Chess: An After-School Success Story

One of the biggest after-school success stories – though at first blush an unlikely candidate to get kids’ juices flowing – is chess. Stimulating critical thinking and other valuable skills, while also proving highly engaging to students, chess offers great potential as an educational reform vehicle.

Recent estimates put the scholastic chess-playing population in the U.S. at more than a million. The numbers are growing rapidly, and this success has fueled a community demand for chess as an after school activity. An extensive nationwide network of scholastic chess competitions at the local, state and national levels has even created the infrastructure to make chess more a sport than an activity. National tournaments have attracted as many as 4,700 students, with thousands of parents, coaches, teachers and others adding to the mix of individuals supporting chess.

Studies have linked chess to enhanced critical thinking skills, concentration, discipline, social skills, self-esteem, and even higher test scores. Marked benefits occur across all demographic lines, as every kid learns to concentrate deeply and discovers consequences for not thinking carefully or planning ahead.

Chess also makes an inexpensive activity that can be easy to implement. It’s a good idea to have a chess point person on staff to help kids understand the rules and stay on track. A standardized curriculum; some organizational rules and time limits; and a system to track and reward student progress all can be helpful additions to your chess program.

The United States Chess Federation offers resources to help you manage, motivate, and educate young chess enthusiasts. Consider a USCF tournament, or simply lead students in informal intra-program games or online play at a chess website. Chess can help kids learn that the key to success in life, above all, is thinking. What better lesson can we teach as they make their way in the world?

For more information, visit www.schoolchess.com.