Armenia made chess mandatory in their school system and sources cited Serzh Sargsyan, the country’s president and also head of the Armenia’s Chess Federation, as stating that, “chess not just as an educational benefit but as a means of developing a sense of national identity.”  Now of the heels of Armenia, the Spanish parliament achieved rare unanimity in passing a non-binding resolution urging the government to make chess part of the curriculum in the country’s schools.

Parliamentarians cited a study, conducted by the universities of Girona and Lleida, on the educational benefits of chess. The report concluded that children who played the game recorded higher maths and reading scores. One Basque politician described the move as a “strategic investment in the future”.

Educators are eagerly endorsing the idea of students being given the opportunity to develop higher learning thinking skills, and many educators are expanding chess programs by not just having them as lunch time programs but including it into the curriculum.

In the New York Times article titled, “Playing Chess as a Tool in Learning”, Bonnie Ackerman, an enrichment teacher for the White Plains School District in New York state stated, “Whatever the teacher asks for, chess can move into: math, language, social studies, map skills. Kids learn about making choices and taking risks as well as finding alternatives. When there’s an interest in chess, kids concentrate for longer periods of time. Some kids are very strong visually, and chess involves visual problem solving.”

This is not only insightful that they recognize chess as a safe way to teach children about cause and effect but intelligent risk taking is a part of life that we should be teaching our children coupled with the fact that concentration leads to persistence which leads to faster and more consistent problem solving skills.

Strengthened further by this, I’ve experienced my own students improving their deductive reasoning and analytical abilities by not only sharing with me the why but pushing beyond this and going right to the solution and explaining the how the next situational chess pattern can happen from a single move ‘decision’.  To add, this was not before possible as they could not foresee the strategy or patterns.  Some students have used metaphors, relating situational relationships they have with their friends to the game itself – this is a leap I’ve seen from many students and they know all too well that this game they are playing relates to their life experience.

As noted as well in the New York Times article, ~ “Many educators also contend that chess improves self-esteem, which can be especially valuable for children who might not otherwise feel successful in school.”

From building self-esteem, confidence, heightening critical-thinking, reasoning, decisioning and overall problem solving skills – Chess no doubt can improve your child’s overall disposition in navigating and negotiating the situations they come across in life, at school and in the home.