Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007
Walter Leslie twice could have put Jamia Davis in checkmate, but he allowed her to reconsider her move. The third time, however, Leslie trapped Davis’ king and walked triumphantly away from the chessboard in a portable classroom at James Hubert Blake High School.
Davis, a 14-year-old freshman from Silver Spring, was disappointed but smiling. Leslie, a security officer at Blake, was also smiling. Normally, he would only interact with some of the 20 students in Blake’s chess club for disciplinary reasons.
‘‘A few of these faces we see on a regular basis,” Leslie said. ‘‘If we can stop seeing them on a regular basis, it would be good for them.”
At Blake and other chess clubs for county youths, the board game is used to teach lessons that extend beyond winning and losing.
‘‘Chess is a decision-making skill, a metaphor for life,” said Fernando Moreno, a guidance counselor at Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring who has written and researched the game’s real-world applications for students.
Moreno spoke at and attended the Chess in the Schools and Communities International Conference in Aberdeen, Scotland, last month. Among the papers presented was a yearlong study sponsored by the Scottish Executive Education Department comparing three primary school classrooms, one of which had chess coaching and active promoting of an after-school chess club.
The study found the students playing chess adjusted better socially, significantly improved their vocabulary scores and performed marginally better on math and reading tests than non-chess playing students.
But to Omari Daniel, an English teacher at Blake and chess club sponsor, the game’s impact on students goes beyond statistics. ‘‘Look at how these kids’ lives are changing because of chess club,” he said.
Daniel, a chess player for nearly 20 years, started the after-school chess club this year after watching students playing during lunch last year. The Tuesday meetings are not just for experienced players, but counseling sessions for students academically ineligible for other activities.
‘‘It’s using the chess game as a vehicle to start a dialogue with the student,” Daniel said.
The club is set up informally, with students playing whoever they want, including Daniel, who teaches while he plays. As Davis and Leslie played, for example, Daniel was teaching another student to focus on the whole board, not just the next move.
‘‘It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about interacting,” Daniel said. ‘‘It’s a lot easier for students then to ask for help.”
That was the point of having Leslie and other security guards challenge the students, an invitation Daniel plans to send to other departments at Blake.
‘‘How often do [students] sit with an adult and have a conversation?” Daniel said. ‘‘They need space to have a positive conversation with adults.”
Taivon Giles, a 16-year-old junior from Silver Spring, attends every Tuesday and likes the strategy involved with the game. ‘‘It gives me a chance to hang out with friends and play competitive chess,” he said. ‘‘It pits people’s minds against one another.”
More importantly, Moreno said, students can immediately see tangible results of their strategies, allowing instructors to demonstrate how all decisions in chess, as in life, have consequences.
‘‘You know how the rooks move, but using them correctly is another story,” he said.
Moreno grew up playing chess in his native Spain. One goal at Broad Acres is for all students to graduate knowing the rules of chess, and 50 students take part in after-school chess clubs offered three days a week.
Moreno has seen chess help non-native English speakers communicate and adapt more quickly to their new schools. Students who play chess are also more eager for the next challenge, be it a higher-ranked opponent or a new math unit.
‘‘As soon as you accomplish one thing, there is always more to learn,” he said.
For the 20 players at the Fairland Library’s weekly chess class last Tuesday, it was a new theory on reaching checkmate.
‘‘You want to attack the king, but you want to have a plan,” said Oladapo Adu, an international chess master and Indian Head resident who was a guest lecturer.
Adu played out some scenarios on a hanging, two-dimensional chessboard with movable pieces, eliciting suggestions from the audience, nearly all boys under age 13.
Following Adu’s instruction, the players started their own games. Twin brothers Alex and Alan Nguyen of Silver Spring played in silence, pondering every move. The 12-year-old seventh-graders at Francis Scott Key Middle School play in tournaments across the region and come to the library every Tuesday.
In between moves, Alex and Alan said chess teaches good sportsmanship and critical thinking.
‘‘They say you should be thinking ahead in chess, and you’re always thinking ahead in life,” Alan said.
Adu agreed. He was impressed with the knowledge of the young players and said the analyzing, risk assessment and social interaction skills will help them as adults.
‘‘If we think about our moves in life, we can’t go wrong,” he said.
