Benefits of Chess « Chess Kids – Chess Coaching and Chess Lessons

Benefits of Chess

Great to have a brother

Written by Noelle Wengier on 16th Jun, 2010

I recently attended my first Interschool Chess tournament. It was fantastic! I so enjoyed watching 90 enthusiastic primary children from 4 different schools, heads down, competing against each other, having a fabulous time.

Amongst them was Suzanna from Blackburn Primary School who loves playing chess and particularly taking part in school tournaments.

She told me that she didn’t attend Chess Club at school because “it is very expensive so I play with my older brother at home. He is a great brother and teaches me heaps about chess”.

Hearing her speak so fondly of her brother and enjoying playing chess with him made me feel so good.

When I looked up Blackburn Primary I noticed that they are entering 10 tournaments before the end of Term 3 … how keen are they!

Interschool Chess is so inspiring.

School teaches all right moves

Written by David Cordover on 1st May, 2010

Why playing chess can reduce schoolyard fights

Written by David Cordover on 9th Feb, 2010

Chess a year 12 subject in Canada!

Written by David Cordover on 9th Oct, 2009

Canada is the latest in a string of countries to adopt chess as a curriculum subject. This time for year 12 students!

After 20 years of research, proposals, paperwork and jumping through hoops Arnie Nermo (B.Ed.) Robert Bateman Sec. School, Abbotsford, BC and Luke Campbell (Language and Technology Department Head at Mount Boucherie Senior Secondary) have finally had their chess course approved by the School Board and the Ministry of Education.

Now any school can use their template and experience to introduce chess as part of their high-school curriculum.

Conflict-based play reduces violence

Written by David Cordover on 1st Oct, 2009

From Teacher Magazine, October 2009.

Conflict-based play reduces violence

Chess program selected as best-practice for improving student outcomes

Written by David Cordover on 13th Aug, 2009

Schools First have selected the Chess Squared Program as a best-practice example to be shown to 80 workshops around Australia.

Watch their Video or read the Blog.

Life Lessons from Chess – Cause or Effect?

Written by David Cordover on 6th Jul, 2009

… you are the one who makes each move. You ultimately control the destiny of the game with the moves you make. There is no luck … in life.

Life is a game of chess.

It is a game of chess within a game of chess. Much like a Russian doll – with an infinite number of chess games built into each other. Each game you play is but a move on the larger chessboard. That game, in turn, is just a single move somewhere even bigger.

My study of chess over the years, my experience in playing games, and ultimately my successes in tournaments, have given me critical lessons I have been able to apply in life; leading to victories far sweeter than anything achieved on a practice board.

To play the game of Life without the lessons from many thousands of chess games would be like trying to play chess without having learned the rules or played a game. Challenging.
Read more…

The softer side of chess: Survey reveals there is more to chess than meets the eye

Written by David Cordover on 29th May, 2009

In a May survey of over 200 Australian schools, 98 percent said that chess has many ‘soft’ skill benefits in addition to the commonly discussed ‘hard’ benefits like problem solving, mathematical reasoning and spatial awareness, with 61 percent stating that chess had an equal effect on both soft and hard skills.

Decision making (74% rated impact as significant) and self-confidence (51% rated impact as significant) were identified as the soft skills most heavily influenced by chess, followed by resilience (ability to cope with loss or unexpected change), general behaviour and locus of control (the extent to which a person believes that they can control events that affect them).

Respondents also identified other soft skills positively improved through regular chess play, including social interaction, patience and personal communication.

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