Five years ago, FM Warren Elliott approached VAZ Preparatory School with a project for teaching chess in school. Since then, with help from the Ministry of Education, his project has become part of the curriculum in quite a few schools in Jamaica. There are theory and practical classes, and an exam each term, the results of which are included in the termly report and count for grades.
Our thanks to Development Commission Chairman Allan Herbert for this).
Click on the photo to watch the video.
Chess in Schools - prime time TV news
Saturday, 01 October 2011 18:03
Slovak TV prime time news (19:30 on 18 September) carried a two minute item on CIS in Slovakia. A précis/transcript (in English) is to follow. Our thanks to CIS Slovakia project leader Martin Huba for this.
China - Power & Harmony from Minsheng St primary school
Thursday, 14 July 2011 13:28
We all know the importance of harmony in chess, harmonious piece placement helping to avoid bad positions and leading to good results.
Minsheng Street Primary School, Jinan is a shining example of introducing chess harmoniously into the school curriculum.
Chess develops logical thinking, ability to think in the abstract and mental independence.
The chequered board was introduced from about the eleventh century. Before that, all the squares on a chessboard looked exactly the same ...
This wonderful video (2.2mn) comes from our Brazilian member Charles Moura Netto, based in Santa Maria de Jetiba.
We are sure your kids will love this, but if they are going to try it for themselves, make sure they notate their games - it will be excellent practice for them (no more reading the letters and numbers from the edges of the board!).
Chess is like a Camellia - Shenzhen Fuxin Primary School
This video is from a gigantic chess country, China! Camellias are native to Shenzhen in South China, where the Fuxin Primary School prepared this video about chess in their school, their neighbourhood, their city and their country.
But why is chess like a Camellia? The most famous member of the Camellia family is the tea plant and chess, like tea, has health benefits. Chess, as praticed in this school, notably introduces friendly parent-child competition and serves to promote social harmony in the neighbourhood. [that is just the view of a Westerner after watching this 10mn video]
Let's Chess Again - 62500 children in British Land UK Chess Challange
Monday, 16 May 2011 18:58
For some years the British Land UK Chess Challenge has been (probably) the biggest chess competition in the world. Each year some 70,000 children throughout the U.K. take part, a large percentage of them receiving their first introduction to the game thanks to this creation of Mike Basman. It has been running since 1996, attracting 23,000 children in that first year.
Two of the young competitiors produced this amusing video: "Lets Chess Again" courtesy of Alex & Marcus of St Andrew's Primary School, Much Hadham, Herts, UK and the British Land UK Chess Challenge. Very nice, even though you will no doubt notice that 4.b2xa3 is far from the best move in the position!
