About Chess
Benefits of Chess
At the invitation of Jim Kormos, Principal, Rose Avenue Public School, Toronto, Ted Winick gave a presentation to Canada's Citizenship and Immigration Minister, Monte Solberg, during the Minister's tour of the school on March 8, 2006. Ted talked about our work teaching chess, and on the benefits of chess to children. Also in attendance were many community and business leaders, plus two special guests: former Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul.
Our letter to the Minister:
Dear Minister:
The children of St. James Town first came to our attention through Rose Avenue Public School. In comparing Ontario's Grade 3 Math test scores across Toronto, we noticed that the pass rate here was less than 50 percent.
Chess Institute of Canada uses the environment of the chess lesson to bring many benefits to children. The first benefit is an improvement in math skill. By age 8 (Grade 3), a child learns to multiply. Moving chess pieces around a chess board requires visualization, the same ability which is required to perform multiplication.
We aim to introduce our program to children in Grades 1-3. However, a low-income neighbourhood like St. James Town cannot afford our programs. Thus, the children are deprived of the same opportunities which children in higher income neighbourhoods have. Without improvements in math skill, the children will fall behind and become doomed to low-income jobs in the future. We broke this cycle just this past February, when we introduced our chess program at Rose Ave. P. S.; it is free to the students, thanks to a grant from The Chess Federation of Canada.
The children at Rose Ave. P. S. responded enthusiastically to our offer. 45 kids in Grades 4-6 signed up. They were joined by their younger brothers and sisters, and now there are over 60 kids packed into one lunchroom every Monday after school. We want to extend our program so that all of the kids have access to it, especially every child in Grade 2 (where developing math skills is most crucial).
The more we work with children, the more benefits we discover for our environment we created with chess. Foremost among these is to demonstrate equality of opportunity. On a chessboard, all is equal at the start. We want to extend this to the children's chances in life in Canada.
Sincerely,
Ted Winick, David Cohen
Directors, Chess Institute of Canada
Our article submitted to the Minister:
Benefits to Children of Chess Institute of Canada's Chess Program
In a learning environment, chess can help children improve their math, reading, logic, sports, and life skills.
Math skills are developed by visualization from the following: the chess board; the moves of the chess pieces; and moving chess pieces around on the chess board.
Reading comprehension is improved because sorting out what is important in a chess position is the same as sorting out the contents of a multi-media web page.
In the field of logic, the following critical thinking skills can be developed: analysis, evaluation, judgement, and planning.
Chess can help with (team) sports skills: visualization, thinking ahead, opponent's response, analysis, evaluation, judgement, strategy, teamwork, hiding your emotions during a contest, and taking a break from physical activity.
Chess can be used to develop a wide range of life skills for the student's personal growth and ability to interact socially: competition, concentration, cooperation, fair play, hard work, knowledge sharing, maturity, and responsibility — your actions bring consequences.
Parents and educators recognize the strong connection between chess and a child's abilities and improvements in math, reasoning, and powers of concentration. Chess Institute of Canada sees this as just the beginning of the possibilities for the usefulness of chess, as taught in a learning environment. Our mission is to give all children the ability to see that they can make choices, take control of their lives, make plans, set goals, and work hard to achieve them. Most important is that children learn to take responsibility for their choices, and that children learn to consider the consequences of their actions (and words) before they do (or say) them. Beyond this, if we can teach children to set up their chess board again after their game is over, then we can teach them to take responsibility for the world around them.
Ted Winick, David Cohen
Directors, Chess Institute of Canada
Chess in Education Links
- Idaho Turns to Chess as Education Strategy, New York Times article
- Patrick S. McDonald, CFC Youth Coordinator, has compiled a collection of studies on chess and education
- Irish Research reports
- Or a simpler summary: Chess in Education Research Summary
- Chess in the Math Curriculum by the Editor of YesMag
- Chess Clubs Give Kids New Skills — and New Hope!
- Chess as an Essential Teaching Tool
- Why Chess? Chess in the Schools, New York
- Why Chess? Educational Technologies
- Improving Math Performance 1 Move at a Time
Chess Links
- Canada's national scholastic chess organization Chess'n Math Association (CMA)
- Chess Federation of Canada (CFC)
- Greater Toronto Chess League (GTCL)
- Tips For Parents of Young Chessplayers from Duif's Place
- Canada Women & Girls Chess
