Chess in schools - intellectual excellence and social panacea
Wednesday, 22 June 2011 19:37
Schack i skolan - intellektuell spjutspets och social mirakelmedicin Chess in schools - intellectual excellence and social panacea - Strand hotel Visby
The Swedish Chess Federation invites you to a seminar on chess as an educational tool. More and more schools use chess in education and can demonstrate positive social and intellectual performance. Can we afford not to learn from it?
Starring: Christer Fuglesang, Astronaut and chess enthusiast, Eva-Lis Sirén, president of the Teachers Union, Ulf Nilsson (fp), Member of Parliament and Jesper Hall, National Instructor Swedish Chess Federation.
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!).
More and more chess federations have successfully introduced chess in school programmes during the last years. The key has been to use chess as a pedagogic tool that develops important skills in the children. The question is, what is the best way in this environment? It is to use the appeal of the game’s social side.
Jesper Hall narrates the Swedish success story ”Schack4an”, tells of its driving force, Göran Malmsten, and about the attempt to create a Swedish culture of chess.
It all started with a conversation I had with Grandmaster Lars Karlsson about the future of chess. Over a couple of beers, we went back and forth over the possibilities of how the Swedish chess elite could make their money and how chess could gain higher status. In the end, we had reached the grain of truth, and Karlsson concluded:
“We have to create a culture of chess. We must get chess associated with something positive, and we must succeed so well that when anyone hears the word chess, the lips of this anyone should form a smile. From that moment on, chess can grow strong at all levels.”
What happened next was, surprisingly, not that we resigned and ordered a new beer, but that we realised that the perfect tool already existed in Sweden, “Schack4an”.
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]
The FIDE President promoted the Chess in Schools programme in four countries during May:
Abuja, Nigeria Kirsan Ilyumzhinov met with Mr. Asishana Okauru, General Director of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF). Kirsan said: "In my opinion, along with economic problems and poverty reduction in Africa, no less important attention should be paid to the programmes developing children's intelligence. The inclusion of chess into the school curriculum will certainly have a positive and lasting effect." Following the meeting, the leaders signed a Memorandum of Understanding, under which FIDE and NGF will hold a preparatory event for the signing of the Agreement to promote chess in all 36 provinces of Nigeria. The Agreement should be signed in July.
Kiev, Ukraine Kirsan met NOC President (& IOC member) Sergey Bubka and Viktor Kapustin (President of Ukraine Chess Federation). Particular attention during the meeting was given to the Chess in Schools programme.
More and more chess federations have successfully introduced chess in school programmes during the last years. The key has been to use chess as a pedagogic tool that develops important skills in the children. The question is, what is the best way in this environment? It is to use the appeal of the game’s social side.
