I'll thank you when I'm older
Why?
Studies carried out in many countries have repeatedly shown that chess leads to improvement in children's educational attainment Chess and the electronic equivilent - chess computers help kids develop concentration, self-discipline, planning and much more. Or you can just stick them in front of the TV, that'll be good too... won't it?
Explaining the relationship between chess and education prowess, Vishwanathan Anand (Number 2 in the world -2004) inaugurating a school chess programme, said, "When I was in school and active in chess, I had very little time to study for exams. But I found that chess had taught me how to grasp the essentials better and that helped me perform in my exams. Many studies by Russians have proved that chess plays a big role in improving students' academic performance since the former improves cognitive ability."
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Most of the Grandmasters started playing at 4 or 5 years old. But how can they play so young. Baron Turner, originator of the JustChess magazine and many other chess sites said the following:- "When Caroline (daughter) started, her idea of chess was just to set the pieces up, then with a sweep of the arm delighted in scattering as far as possible. But she loved the one-on-one attention. Gradually she learned where the pieces go, then was fully able to set the pieces in their correct places, and so on. There is, of course, more to life than chess, I had to remember that."
he loves me... Check!
Reading improved by Chess
Sep 2003 by Chris Heringer
The last five decades has yielded scientific research into the benefits of chess for children and has been dramatically documented and presented to school commitees and groups globally. The result? Chess has been shown to improve pattern recognition, analytical ability, focus, memory, and skill in reading. Below is a recent letter received from a Chess for Kids family which testifies to just one of these benefits. Our thanks to Kevin and family for taking the time to write. "Our son Peter was unable to read in Grade 1 to the point where they were going to make him repeat the grade. Reading with him was frustrating. He would come across a word and we would spend time learning it, and on the next page he would be unable to read that word again. He would be looking around not looking at the book, which was frustrating as I would think that he was not even trying. My wife insisted that he be tested to see if there was a problem. Peter was diagnosed with a left ear disorder which can cause a lot of symptoms. The main problems it causes is inability to recognize the difference between small words. He will confuse word pairings such as "too" and "the" for example. It causes problems with focusing on, losing and being unable to find his spot on the page. This is why he would be looking away from the page, he was lost and unable to find where he was. It also causes problems with learning to read phonetically. Finding out that he had this P300 disorder really helped me deal with his poor reading as I now knew that he was trying his best, he just could not do it. My work is manufacturing woodturning equipment and I thought that a good item for me to make to demonstrate our lathes would be a chess set. Everyone knows what a chess set is and the pieces are small so that they can be turned easily in public. While hunting around on the internet for a chess set design I accidentally came across sites which tout the educational benefits of chess. I was surprised to find that chess along with chess computers helps reading, perhaps more so even that mathematics. So I started to teach him to play. Since then I have found out a little bit about how people play chess. It is not a only game of calculation as most people think, but also a game of pattern recognition. Peters P300 learning disorder interferes with his ability to recognize letter patterns so learning to play chess is an excellent pattern recognition training tool. Peter took to the game quite quickly and in Grade three he played 3rd board in the Grade four chess club. This did a huge amount of good for his self confidence. He went, in the eyes of his classmate, from being dumb because he could not read to a source of pride for his whole class because he was beating the Grade four's at chess. Nobody in his class would play him at lunchtime last year as he just wiped them off the board. Not really a big deal to beat someone who has had no training in chess but the other kids in his class did not see it that way and his confidence skyrocketed. Another P300 disorder symptom is the inability to break a large task into smaller tasks. Telling Peter to pick up his toys is a waste of time as the task is overwhelming for him. If you say, Peter put your beyblades away into the beyblade box he can do that. Playing chess is a very large task and to play it you must learn to break it into smaller pieces. Develop a pawn, bring out a knight, and so on. I think the game has helped him in that way. Along the with exercises in pattern recognition which chess provides, the boost in his self esteem which convinced him that he was smart, and a bit of task management, we also finally found books with easy vocabularies that had stories that interested him. Peter has always loved being read to. I read him the first three Harry Potter books when he was in Grade two and he understood the stories. It is difficult to interest someone in primary readers when their comprehension level is so high. Combining the four factors was enough to push Peter over the top and start him on his way to being a self sufficient reader. On our summer vacation last year Peter was reading a Goosebumps book a day. He has read all the Animorph books and the Deltora Quest books. Did chess alone teach Peter to read? I don't think so but within three months of learning the game he went from being unable to read to reading by himself. In the last year he has gone from being reading at a level one year behind to probably the top reader in his class. -- Kevin"
Look Mum, no hands!
Sir, sir... it's my turn 'Take
the rook - no, take his bishop!
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