News

Teenage kids who very much already appreciate what chess has to offer were busy downstairs at the Chess and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, enjoying the incredible U.S. Chess School camp at the club this week. At the same time upstairs, a group of teachers who know very little about chess were being taught how to bring its benefits to their schools and their students...

The students are part of First Move, a new program at the school that teaches chess to elementary students. Educators and chess advocates say the game teaches skills that extend beyond the corners of a chess board. For Idaho schools, First Move is a project the State Department of Education funded last year as a pilot program in 100 classrooms.

A group of second- and third-grade teachers who a year ago mostly didn’t know how to play chess have implemented New England’s first curriculum program at Abby Kelley Foster Charter School in Worcester, with the help of America’s Foundation for Chess of Seattle, Wash.

Although board games are often a staple of elementary school classrooms, they are rarely a part of the curriculum. But for students at Rosa Parks Elementary in Redmond and Phantom Lake and Medina elementary schools in Bellevue, one board game in particular has recently taken a place at the blackboard alongside reading, writing and arithmetic.

Spring school district officials have implemented a new program that utilizes the board game chess as a motivational learning tool. The first lessons of the program called for First Move begin next week for second and third graders in 16 of the district's 20 elementary schools, said Dalane Bouillion, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Philadelphia pilot program In Philadelphia, which has the seventh-largest school system in the country, 18 of the city's 280 public schools have added chess to their curricula in a pilot program. About 4,000 students are getting chess instruction this year, according to Marjorie Wuestner, executive director of the school district's Office of Health, Safety, Physical Education and Sports Administration.

There is somebody who can beat NFL MVP Shaun Alexander at his own game. Erik Anderson, the founder of the American Foundation for Chess? Alexander said the Seattle-area entrepreneur is the last person to beat him at one of his many loves outside of football. "Yep, first or second week of the season. But he got lucky," Alexander said, feigning disgust.

Wendi Fischer, vice president of America’s Foundation for Chess, said First Move uses chess as a learning tool to teach higher-level thinking skills. “Kids see chess as a game, and second and third graders love to play games,” said Fischer, a former teacher. “But inherent in the game of chess are skills such as learning to think ahead, see relationships, and see patterns.”