The Benefits...

Numerous scientific studies over the past 40 years have documented the benefits of chess for children. In short these benefits include academic performance, levels of concentration, forward planning, patience, perseverance, and mathematical thinking. Even reading scores have been shown to improve when chess is introduced to some classrooms, using other classrooms as control groups. Many studies, particularly in the US, have focused upon disruptive children, and those with learning difficulties such as dyslexia and attention deficit disorders, and the published results are certainly impressive.

Andrew Saunders is Headteacher at Blackford Brae School in Edinburgh, a primary school that specialises in children with behavioural problems. After introducing chess to the school Mr Saunders said:- “There is a great deal to be learned from chess – how to succeed, how to cope with losing, how to persevere when things are looking bleak, and how to build a cohesive strategy. The biggest single asset is probably the increase in concentration levels, particularly among boys…There is something about chess which fires the imagination and can get children hooked. All of a sudden, someone who has spent months unable to sit still and behave for more than a few minutes can find themselves immersed in a game for up to an hour.”

Many parents are concerned about overuse of computer games and television, and chess is an excellent way to bring children back to a one-to-one board-game where they can interact in a much more healthy way with their friends, parents, grandparents etc.
Further details about all of this research can be accessed via Internet search engines.

Throughout all schools in England and Wales there are moves afoot to cater specially for ‘Gifted and Talented’ pupils. Schools are being incentivised to offer special additional learning-packages to these pupils, and chess fits well into such a package.