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Why chess deserves a place in schools

7 February 2012 - In Armenia all six-year-olds study chess; in UK schools it 'fell off a cliff' in the 1980s. But its educational benefits are plentiful.

Guardian online commentator calls for chess to be in schools. [read more] 

My big match with the chess-champion MP

Why our chess-playing reporter couldn't resist playing Labour MP Rachel Reeves – and how he came unstuck thanks to the great Garry Kasparov

		Stephen Moss Tuesday 18 October 2011 20.30 BST

Labour MP Rachel Reeves was in earnest conversation with Garry Kasparov, the highest-rated chess player of all time, and Nigel Short, the best ever British player. Well might she be. She will shortly be facing me across the board.

The 32-year-old Reeves is a rising star in the Labour party, and was recently promoted to shadow chief secretary to the Treasury. She is even being touted as a possible future leader. Far more interesting, however, is that she was also once under-14 UK girls chess champion, and has today yesterday gathered together a galaxy of top chess talent in a crowded room at the House of Commons to promote Chess in Schools and Communities, a charity that aims to get children playing chess in the belief that it will foster self-discipline and teach problem-solving skills.

Reeves tells the assembled audience of kids, grandmothers and grandmasters that chess was the perfect preparation for politics, teaching you to stay one step ahead of your opponents. She says she has played very little since school, but has gamely agreed to play me, a decidedly average club-strength player but one who, unlike her, does play regularly.

We play a so-called "blitz" game – 10 minutes each for all the moves. Reeves is a little rusty, and within 15 moves I have a won position. We trundle on a little longer, but the game is done and I am swelling visibly. I have beaten the former under-14 UK girls chess champion!

We shake hands and prepare to leave the board. Just before we do, however, who should drift over but Kasparov. He quickly sizes up the situation – that Reeves, his host for the day and the new standard-bearer of chess in schools – has been walloped, and suggests a rematch. He will, he says, intervene on her behalf just three times.

We play again. The position becomes complex, messy. At first, Kasparov keeps his counsel, but as the game gets more interesting he can't help lending Reeves a hand. "I'm just offering general advice," he insists as her position improves while mine deteriorates. We are both horribly short of time, but there is no doubt she is on top. "Now final, final, final shot," says Kasparov as my position becomes dire. He has seen a way to win my queen, and Reeves eventually sees it too. Amid much laughter and applause I resign. "Good moves can easily be explained," says Kasparov. "They are just natural."

"I think that's one of the best games I've ever played," says Reeves with neat self-deprecation.

The Guardian has lost, but it is defeat with honour, and after shaking hands with the immortal Kasparov at the end of the game, it will not be washing for a month.

The moves from both games are shown at johnchess.blogspot.com

Article source: http://bit.ly/pMlYVc

Swansea pupils join schools chess drive

18 October 2011 Last updated at 11:19

	There is a UK-wide campaign to establish chess as a subject in schools

Pupils from schools in Wales are amongst school children who are visiting Westminster to campaign for chess to be taught in all schools.

The youngsters are already taking part in an initiative that sees the game taught in curricular time.

They will join others from across the UK to challenge MPs to a game.

The Welsh government says it provides annual funding to the Welsh Chess Union to promote the game through clubs and competitions, particularly in schools.

Ten-year-old Wallis Thomas, a pupil at Craig y Felin Primary School in Clydach in the Swansea Valley is one of those travelling to London.

She has been playing since the start of the year and it is one of those being taught chess in school by the Swansea-based Chess Academy Wales.

Deborah Evans, director of Chess Academy Wales, said many pupils like Wallis benefited.

"I teach in schools in curriculum time and the enthusiasm from children is lovely," she said.

"They are learning skills without realising because it's such fun to play.

"They are also able to socialise on a very human level because they are not facing a computer. It's one to one with a human being and it's great in this cyber-age to have this opportunity."

The event in London is part of a campaign headed by the group Chess in Schools & Communities.

It has the backing of chess grandmaster Nigel Short.

He told BBC Wales: "There have been numerous academic studies showing that chess is beneficial in various ways - concentration, calculation, planning and strategic thinking."

The Welsh government says it appreciates the benefits of youngsters playing the game.

A spokesperson said: "The Welsh government provides annual funding to the Welsh Chess Union to promote opportunities for participation by young people through the creation of clubs and competitions, particularly in schools".

Article source: http://bbc.in/oOwvEg

Compulsory chess lessons in every school – now that's radical

By Katharine Birbalsingh | Education | Last updated: May 10th, 2011

Checkmate: it's not a geek's game, it's a battle on a board (Photo: Getty)

Malcolm Pein in Birmingham runs a charity that promotes the teaching of chess in schools. He has managed to get chess lessons started in 70 primary schools – 1 hour per week. Children being interviewed about their chess lessons insist that, in comparison, computer games are “silly” and a “waste of time”. But chess makes them play better with their friends, and improves their maths! These are the kids talking ...

Are they right? Is chess really what it is cracked up to be?

Believe it or not, Armenia has recently made chess compulsory in all of its primary schools. Children from the age of six will learn chess as a separate subject on the curriculum for two hours a week. Arman Aivazian, an official at the Ministry of education, says that chess lessons will “foster schoolchildren’s intellectual development” and teach them to “think flexibly and wisely”. President Serzh Sarkisian has been so inspired that he has committed around £1.5 million (a large sum for an impoverished country) to the scheme. His intention is that Armenia should rule the world of chess.

This is not just a pipe dream. In 1963, Armenian Tigran Petrosian defeated Russian Mikhail Botvinnik to take the world chess title. Armenia’s national team won gold at the biennial International Chess Olympiad in both 2006 and 2008, and the country’s top player, Levon Aronian, is currently ranked number three in the world.

But should chess really take the place of other national curriculum subjects? I doubt Malcolm Pein thinks so. He simply believes that young children should be taught the game and given the chance to enjoy it. Teachers involved in his scheme notice its immediate impact on children. They say the children are more aware of their peers, better at problem solving, more forward-thinking and better at building strategy: quite an extraordinary array of skills from just a little game of chess!

It is said that the great chess masters have hundreds of different chess boards memorised which they simply pull out of their head as they play. Without super sharp powers of memory and concentration, one cannot hope to win at a game of chess. So perhaps there is some truth in it.

No one wants to deny a child the opportunity of learning the game of chess. Contention only arises if one suggests that chess is more important than something else. Is it more important than music or art? What about maths or history?

Once I sat in the theatre in New York and next to me was a woman with her 8-year-old little boy who wore funny glasses and shorts. He was glued to his electronic chess board during the entire performance, obsessed with winning against the computer. It was a sight to behold. All I could think was, there is something different about that boy… something I wish I could bottle up and give to all my kids back home.

Whatever one’s feelings on chess, what I find most endearing is the comment of an ordinary Armenian man when interviewed about chess. “Chess offers us hope – the chance of salvation. For in chess, every pawn can become a queen.”

If chess does that, then compulsory it should be.

Tags: Armenia, chess, Malcolm Pein

Should every child be made to play chess?

By Vanessa Barford

BBC News

Armenia is making chess compulsory in schools, but could mandatory study of a board game really help children's academic performance and behaviour?

Every child aged six or over in Armenia is now destined to learn chess. The authorities there believe compulsory lessons will "foster schoolchildren's intellectual development" and improve critical thinking skills.

The country has plenty of reasons to believe in chess. It treats grandmasters like sports stars, championships are displayed on giant boards in cities and victories celebrated with the kind of frenzy most countries reserve for football.

It may only have a population of 3.2 million, but Armenia regularly beats powerhouses such as Russia, China and the US and its national team won gold at the International Chess Olympiad in 2006 and 2008.

Added to that, the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has just been re-elected as chair of the Armenian Chess Federation. [Read more]

Armenia makes chess compulsory in schools

AFP Sunday, 17 April 2011

Armenia is to make chess a compulsory subject in primary schools in an attempt to turn itself into a global force in the game, the education ministry said on Friday.

"Teaching chess in schools will create a solid basis for the country to become a chess superpower," an official at the ministry, Arman Aivazian, told AFP.

The authorities led by President Serzh Sarkisian, an enthusiastic supporter of the game, have committed around $1.5 million (one million euros) to the scheme - a large sum in the impoverished but chess-mad country.

Children from the age of six will learn chess as a separate subject on the curriculum for two hours a week.

Aivazian said the lessons which start later this year would "foster schoolchildren's intellectual development" and teach them to "think flexibly and wisely".

The game is hugely popular in Armenia, where grandmasters are stars and important match results make headline news.

The country of 3.2 million people has already established itself as a serious competitor in global tournaments.

The national team won gold at the biennial International Chess Olympiad in both 2006 and 2008, and the country's top player Levon Aronian is currently ranked number three in the world, according to the World Chess Federation.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/armenia-makes-chess-compulsory-in-schools-2269333.html

Pupils are pawns in nation’s bid to be chess superpower

Kings and queens will not be confined to history classes for children in Armenia, where chess is being added as a compulsory subject in primary schools.

The former Soviet republic aims to boost its reputation as one of the world’s leading chess-playing nations by teaching the game to every young child for two hours a week alongside a normal curriculum.

The Armenian Education Ministry plans to spend about $1.5 million (£920,000) to introduce the scheme from September. The country’s chess academy, where many of Armenia’s top players learnt to play the game, will be recruited to help to train teachers.

“Teaching chess in schools will create a solid basis for the country to become a chess superpower,” Arman Aivazian, a ministry spokesman, said. He added that chess lessons would also strengthen children’s intellectual development by helping them to “think flexibly and wisely”.

The plan, part of reforms to boost the quality of education, has been enthusiastically endorsed by President Sargsyan, who is an avid chess fan. The game enjoys huge popularity in Armenia, where grandmasters are treated in the same way as star footballers in other countries and the results of important tournaments are broadcast on television news.

Despite having a population of only 3.2 million, Armenia currently ranks fourth in the world league produced by Fide, the sport’s governing body, behind Russia, Ukraine and China. It counts 33 grandmasters among its current top 100 players, six more than China.

Armenia’s top player, Levon Aronian, 28, is ranked No 3 in the world and is the current world champion in blitz chess, played at rapid speed. He led the Armenian national team to the gold medal at the International Chess Olympiad in 2006 and 2008.

Armenia also has a long tradition of success in chess as part of the Soviet Union, when the sport was turned into an intellectual battleground with the West during the Cold War. Tigran Petrosian was world champion from 1963 to 1969 and won the Soviet championship four times. Garry Kasparov, widely regarded as the greatest chess player of all time, is half-Armenian. Born in neighbouring Azerbaijan, he adopted a Russified variant of his mother’s surname, Kasparian.

Armenia is not alone in deciding to make chess compulsory in schools. Pupils in the southern Russian republic of Kalmykia, whose former President, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, is the head of Fide, already learn to play the game. Israel announced in December that it planned to add chess to the school curriculum.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article2990912.ece

Armenia makes school chess compulsory

Updated: 07:48, Saturday April 16, 2011

Armenia is to make chess a compulsory subject in primary schools in a bid to turn itself into a global force in the game, the education ministry said on Friday.

'Teaching chess in schools will create a solid basis for the country to become a chess superpower,' said an official at the ministry, Arman Aivazian.

The authorities led by President Serzh Sarkisian, an enthusiastic supporter of the game, have committed around $US1.5 million ($A1.43 million) to the scheme - a large sum in the impoverished but chess-mad country.

Children from the age of six will learn chess as a separate subject on the curriculum for two hours a week.

Aivazian said the lessons, which start later this year, would 'foster schoolchildren's intellectual development' and teach them to 'think flexibly and wisely'.

The game is hugely popular in Armenia, where grandmasters are stars and important match results make headline news.

The country of 3.2 million people has already established itself as a serious competitor in global tournaments.

The national team won gold at the biennial International Chess Olympiad in both 2006 and 2008, and the country's top player, Levon Aronian, is currently ranked No.3 in the world, according to the World Chess Federation.

http://www2.skynews.com.au/offbeat/article.aspx?id=602293&vId

When Phiona Mutesi saw a chess board for the first time, five years ago, all she wanted to do was touch the pieces.

Then 10 years old, she was taught chess by a six-year-old girl, like her visiting a charity project for children in the slums of Uganda's capital, Kampala. "When I play my former teacher now, I always win," Phiona says and chuckles.

Those first improvised lessons set Phiona on the path to become a chess prodigy: At 15, she is her country's No 2 and the top woman player in the under-20 category - a title she has held for three consecutive years.

Last year, she travelled to Siberia to compete in the World Chess Olympiad.

And she has helped change the public's perception of chess and who in Uganda should play it.

Having grown up in Kampala's Katwe slum, Phiona never expected to succeed in anything, let alone travel abroad.

Her family's poverty forced her to leave school and sell food in the streets.

[Click to read full BBC article online]