The game of Chess is not merely an idle amusement. Several very valuable qualities of the mind, useful in the course of human life, are to be acquired or strengthened by it, so as to become habits, ready on all occasions. ~Benjamin Franklin
I won’t lie. Up until a few months ago I hardly thought of chess at all. And if I did, I thought it wasn’t the game for me–too much strategy, too long-term, too difficult. And all for what? I mean, what else is it good for, except to torture souls who take it seriously? Then I made a new friend. This friend has written a fiction piece about chess, a fantastic read, I might add. The whole purpose of the book is to engage the young and the old to learn from this ancient game. It turns out that acquainting yourself with chess provides all kinds of learning–and teaching–opportunities. But let’s start with the history of the game.
History
As with a number of other sports and games, chess has evolved over the years. Over many years, actually. Try more than 1000 years, according to the House of Staunton. But back to the changes. Chess came to Europe from Persia, but it did not look exactly like the game we (okay, you and others) play today. The value and range of some of the pieces were different–the Queen was weak, for example, and games took a good while to play. As the game gained traction in Medieval times, it was modified to eliminate the initial moves and just jump in further along.
By the 16th century, the values and ranges became consistent with the current rules. The printing press was invented and became very useful as rules were finalized and presumably distributed with the boards and pieces during this era. An increase in standardization facilitated the development of different strategies.
Let’s scoot over to the U.S. and zoom up to the 1850s. By this time the game had gained popularity on this side of the pond and one player stood out above all others – Paul Morphy. He won a sixteen-player tournament at the American Chess Congress* in 1857. Paul was only 20 and was subsequently invited to Europe to play Masters in the old country. He beat them all, winning two-thirds of his matches overall. While there was no world championship match then, he was considered to be the best of that period.
All that was well before the formation of the National Chess Federation in 1939. It is now known as the U. S. Chess Federation (USCF) and represents the U.S. in the World Chess Federation.
*A series of tournaments which has been replaced by the U.S. Championship.
Benefits
Benjamin Franklin, being a cutting-edge kind of guy, wrote an essay about chess, extolling superior qualities taught by playing the game. Among those were caution, circumspection, perseverance, and foresight. Mr. Franklin went on to lay out suggestions for gentlemanly play. Examples are:
- Using the same rules for both players
- Not rushing your opponent to make a decision
- Not crowing gleefully (my words) when the game is going your way.
I’m thinking these behaviors would be welcome in any setting, whether a competition or civil discourse. But back to chess.
From a more recent perspective, let me share a conversation I recently had with Victoria Winifred, the author of The Princess, The Knight and the Lost God: A Chess Story. For years, Victoria used the game of chess as a backdrop to lessons in other subjects:
- Math
- To reinforce the value of a move, players (in the classroom, for example) keep track of the value of the pieces they captured or lost. They would be directed to avoid making exchanges of pieces where they lose more points than they gain, as it’s a better plan to attempt to capture pieces with higher values. To do so, they must understand the values they’re working with. (In case some of you have as little familiarity with the game as I do – points are assigned to chess pieces. Who knew?)
- Algebraic notation – Q x d3 – d3 is square where a piece was taken; Q=Queen who took the said piece square. Recording the plays enables review post-game so players can make corrections during the next game.
- Solving multiple-step problems, because that’s what chess is.
- Direction
- Geography – the board itself can be viewed as latitudinal and longitudinal lines.
- And yet another Math reference – 2 factors meeting on the multiplication table.
And, as Mr. Franklin pointed out: patience, planning, and strategy.
You can learn more about ways to use chess to teach by going to Victoria’s website.
Chess today
The USCF not only organizes championships but also serves to promote the game by publishing Chess Life and maintaining massive databases of past games/players. Colleges are beginning to add chess to their curriculum and the mainstream media is slowly increasing its coverage of this ancient learning tool that has provided so many individuals so many opportunities to focus their thoughts and hone their skillsets.
As with almost every other game in this digital-driven world, chess is available online. Not only can you play online, you can research an upcoming opponent’s past games. It’s like Tennessee college basketball players watching Kentucky game tapes. Good players like to be able to anticipate moves that might challenge them.
Very young children are fully capable of learning the moves and absorbing the benefits of memorization (available moves for specific pieces) and planning ahead (if I move here, what happens next?). There appears to be no downside. Given two players of similar experience, there should be a level playing field and the opportunity to learn from each other.
As mentioned at the onset, I am intimidated by the thought of playing chess. I can already play Chinese checkers and solitaire. Do I need another challenge? Just kidding. Since I have learned that even five-year-olds can learn to play, my reluctance is shameful. I figure that with the right mindset and a Victoria Winifred by my side, I should give it a shot.
You?
