Did you know: Chess in Schools

 The Chess Club and Scholastic Center is always working to promote scholastic chess as an educational tool. In an effort to greater understand curricular chess, it is good to look to current examples as to what chess can be in an educational setting. This month, we'll take a quick look at Chess in the Schools, the New York City based organization that brings chess to thousands of students each year.
 
Founded in 1986, Chess in the Schools has been educating more than 400,000 students in the game of chess. The organization seeks to develop analytical thinkers, motivated learners, and critical problem solvers. For all of these goals, chess proves to be a perfect medium. Chess in the Schools hires highly rated chess coaches and instructors, who go to each of the over 75 schools that they serve. Instructors spend 5 hours a day at one school, teaching 5 one hour lessons. The next day, instructors go to a different school to teach another 5 lessons. In this way, a relatively small amount of chess teachers are able to instruct hundreds of students each week. 
 
The instructors also supervise after school chess clubs. These clubs provide a greater opportunity to experience more dvanced lessons in chess, as well as a larger capacity for specialized instruction. These after school clubs serve to create great chess players, who then improve the scholastic tournaments held in the city. Also, after school chess represents a virtual "safe haven" for youths in the time directly after the school hours, where recreational chess is always encouraged.
 
Recently, CIS has begun utilizing the website MatPat to compete with students in Ecole Berlioz, a primary school in Nimes, France. Ecole Berlioz is the current French elementary school champions. This allows students to play a wide variety of opponents, further strengthing their chess playing abilities as well as offering a cultural experience that many don't get a chance to have.
 
Chess in the Schools also offers roughly 25 large scholastic tournaments every year. These tournaments routinely draw between 250 and 500 students from elementary school all the way to high school. These tournaments offer students a chance to test out their skills, and showcase their abilities on the boards.
 
For more information on Chess in the Schools, you can visit their website at www.chessintheschools.org.