Chess and the 7 dimensions of life

Images: chesshouse.com

I have a couple of articles/posts on my blog about chess and the link between chess and academic performance, the  research  that was done by various people, the reasons why your child should play chess etc. Today’s article is no difference and I’ve added an article about chess and the 7 dimensions, which you might enjoy and then 3 of my own games. I’ve taken out my opponents’ nicknames this time. Two games were friendlies and the last game was a rated game. As Ray mentioned the other day on his blog- (if you love playing chess, please play him on chess.com, his blog-link is on my blog roll and you can leave him a message on his blog, but be aware, he’s no softy when it comes to chess! Don’t come back to me crying! lol!) -that I used to blog only games where my opponents were defeated…(no comments…:) Anyway…I have blogged  awhile ago some of my games where I was the complete loser!  Enjoy the games here…You will notice that I played white in all three the games. You can play through these games, the game-links will open in a new window. If you wanna play me, I do play now on chess.com. If you follow the link on my sidebar, register, then you will automatically be a friend of me and we can play!

You will also find an article you might not be able to read…that’s Afrikaans! The article is about Ezet, she took part in the World Youth Championships that ended last week in Vietnam. The link of the Saffa-players and their results is also available to be viewed. On this link here you can find the official site of the World Youth Chess Championships in Vietnam. The link will open in a new window.
http://wycc2008.vietnamchess.com/index.php

Chess Improves Academic Performance
Chess has long been recognized throughout the world as a builder of strong intellects, but only recently has the United States begun to recognize chess’s ability to improve the cognitive abilities, rational thinking and reasoning of even the least promising children. Chess brings out latent abilities that have not been reached by traditional educational means. It promotes logical thinking, instills a sense of self‑confidence and self‑worth, and improves communication and pattern recognition skills. It teaches the values of hard work, concentration, objectivity, and commitment. As former World Chess Champion Emmanuel Lasker said, “On the chessboard lies and hypocrisy do not survive long.”

In Marina, CA, an experiment with chess indicated that after only 20 days of instruction, students’ academic performance improved dramatically. George L Stephenson, chairman of the Marina JHS math department, reported that 55% of students showed significant improvement in academic performance after this brief smattering of chess instruction.

Similarly, a 5‑year study of 7th and 8th graders by Robert Ferguson of the Bradford, PA School District showed that test scores improved 173% for students regularly engaged in chess classes, compared with only 4.56% for children participating in other forms of “enrichment activities” including Future Problem Solving, Dungeons and Dragons, Problem Solving with Computers, independent study, and creative writing. A Watson‑Glaser Thinking Appraisal evaluation showed overwhelmingly that chess improved critical thinking skills more than the other methods of enrichment.

Educators at the Roberto Clemente School (C.I.S. 166) in New York report that chess has improved not only academic scores, but social performance as well. In 1988, Joyce Brown, an assistant principal and supervisor of the school’s Special Education department, and teacher Florence Mirin began studying the effect of chess on their Special Education students. When the study began, they had 15 children enrolled in chess classes; two years later they had 398‑

“The effects have been remarkable,” Brown says. “Not only have the reading and math skills of these children soared, their ability to socialize has increased substantially, too. Our studies have shown that incidents of suspension. and outside altercations have decreased by at least 60% since these children became interested in chess.”

Connie Wingate, Principal, P.S. 123 in New York, says of a New York City school chess program, “This is wonderful! This is marvelous! This is stupendous! It’s the finest thing that ever happened to this school. I am most sincere. It has been an absolute plus for the students who were directly involved as well as for the rest of the school… If I could say one thing to funders, it would be this. If they ever walked down 140th St. and 8th Ave. and had the opportunity to see where our children come from, they would know that these children deserve every single break that they can get. They are trying, through chess, to apply themselves and do something to better themselves. And that filters into the entire school and community… More than anything else, chess makes a difference… what it has done for these children is simply beyond anything that I can describe. The highest scoring student in out school is a member of the chess team. He became the highest scoring kid in the school after he joined the chess team. All four are in the top quarter of the school, and they weren’t before. Academically, they are doing much better in class, and it’s in no small part because of chess. Just how they feel about themselves, their self‑esteem, makes them all winners.”

Jo Bruno, Principal, P.S. 189, ‑Brooklyn, NY:. “In‑chess tournaments the child gets the opportunity of seeing more variety and diversity. There are kids who have more money than they have, but chess is a common denominator. They are all equal on the chessboard. I believe it is connected academically and to the intellectual development of children. I see them able to attend to something for more than an hour and a half. I am stunned. Some of them could not attend to things for more than 20 minutes.”

Jerome Fishman, Guidance Counselor, C.J.H.S 231, Queens, NY: “I like the aspect of socialization. You get into friendly, competitive activity where no one gets hurt. Instead of two bodies slamming into each other like in football, you’ve got the meeting of two minds. It’s strategic, and you use logic to plan an attack scheme. Aside from being good for the cognitive development of these youngsters, chess develops their social skills, too. It makes them feel they belong. Whenever we get a child transferred from another school who may have maladaptive behavior, our principal (Dr. Wilton Anderson) suggests chess as a way of helping him find his niche. It also helps kids learn how to be better friends. They analyze the game and talk it over afterwards. I even had a couple of kids who never had much in common start going to each other’s houses to play chess and swap Chess Life magazines. We’ve got kids literally lining up in front of the school at 6:45 am to get a little chess in before classes start.”

Source for most of the above: New York City Schools Chess Program by Christine Palm, copyright 1990
https://www.chesshouse.com/articles.asp?id=115

http://knightofchess.com/34/the-role-of-chess-in-modern-education/

http://knightofchess.com/31/chess-makes-kids-smarter/

On this link you will find these articles to read.
Articles on Chess.. The link will open in a new window.
Chess Improves Academic Performance
More Schools Learn Power of Checkmate
Chess Makes Kids Smarter
From Street Kids to Royal Knights
Role of Chess in Modern Education
One Boy’s Chess Story
Chess is the Gymnasium of the Mind
Chess and Education

World Youth Chess Championships…see the official link in top of this entry.

http://www.sajca.com/wycc2008.html Uitslae van die Suid-Afrikaanse spelers. Die link sal in ‘n nuwe venster oopmaak.
 

Ezet het aan die Wêreld Junior Skaakkampioenskappe deelgeneem en op die link kan die uitslae gevind word.
 Ezet Roos, ’n gr. 11-leerling van die Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool in Pretoria, gaan in Oktober vanjaar baie min van haar skoolbank sien.
Dié talentvolle skaakspeler gaan aan twee toernooie in dié maand deelneem. Sy gaan eers na Beijing vir die World Mind Games en daarna na Viëtnam om aan die Wêreldjeugkampioenskap deel te neem.

Ezet het al ses keer na dié kampioenskap gegaan en het al elke jaar sedert sy tien jaar oud was Suid-Afrikaanse kleure gekry.

Ezet het ook haar skaakvermoëns in verskeie lande ten toon gestel.

“Ek was al in Spanje, Griekeland, Rusland en Turkye. Rusland is ’n vreemde land, maar die mense speel baie goed skaak. Hulle begin baie jonger as ons speel.”

Hoewel sy meen die Oos-Europese lande se gehalte van spel is veel beter as hier, sê sy Suid-Afrikaners hoef glad nie terug te staan vir lande soos Australië of Nieu-Seeland nie.

“Ons sukkel dalk teen lande soos Rusland, maar verder doen ons heel oukei.”

Volgens haar vereis skaak ’n ander soort fiksheid as ander sportsoorte.

“Mense dink skaak is nie ’n sport nie, maar net soos ander sportsoorte is dit onvoorspelbaar. Jy kan so hard oefen soos jy wil, maar jy weet nooit wat gaan gebeur nie.

“As jy in toernooie speel, moet jy vyf uur lank konsentreer. Jy is dalk nie soos met ander sporte uitasem nie, maar dit maak my baie moeg en ná ’n wedstryd wil ek net slaap.”

http://www.news24.com/Beeld/Sport/Skolesport/0,,3-63-2372_2385625,00.html

Chess game 1

Nikita1 vs. Bg

Chess game 2

Nikita1 vs. The…

Chess game 3

Nikita1 vs. bir..

“The chessboard is the world, the pieces are the phenomena of the Universe, the rules of the game are what we call the laws of Nature and the player on the other side is hidden from us”
(Thomas Huxley)

 7 – Dimensions of Life article submitted by: Dr J Slobodzien The link of the article is at the bottom of the post and it will open in a new window.

1. Social / Cultural Dimension – I started seeing that your chess pieces are like family members and significant others in your life that you try to protect the best you can. We are all alike (black or white in chess) and we try to move and communicate in ways that will support our mutual goals. Unfortunately though, you end up losing the ones you love.

2. Medical/ Physical Dimension – In order to maintain a healthy body we must maintain a balance of moving (exercise), eating (our opponents pieces), and resting (knowing when not to move).

3. Mental/ Emotional Dimension – Chess forces us to think really hard about our actions, the consequences of our actions, and how our behavior affects others and the world around us. It also gives us opportunities to experience and deal with emotions – like anger, revenge, grief, and joy, etc.

4. Educational/ Occupational Dimension – Chess develops our attention span, concentration abilities, and memory – so that we can learn, be trained and skilled, and maintain satisfying work experiences.

5. Spiritual/ Religious Dimension – I didn’t notice a spiritual side to chess until one of my pawns first got transformed (born-again) into a Queen. At that point, I realized that our weakest members in life have the potential to become our strongest heroes. Chess also develops our faith in a set of organized beliefs and practices much like religion.

6. Legal/ Financial Dimension – Chess teaches us that there are consequences for not obeying the law (not playing by the rules of the game). There are also rewards for logically and systematically making the right moves in life.

7. Self-Control/ Higher Power Control Dimension- Chess teaches us that even though we may follow all the rules, all of the time – we do not have total control of our destiny (who wins the game and who loses). As Thomas Huxley so eloquently put it in his famous quote above (“the player on the other side is hidden”).

http://searchwarp.com/swa305229.htm

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Benefits of Chess in Education

This document- benefitsofchessinedscreen2 -has got all the information you’re looking for. The benefits of chess and also research that was done. The link will open in a new window.

CHESS IMPROVES ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
Chess has long been recognized throughout the world as a builder of strong intellects, but only recently has the United States begun to recognize chess’s ability to improve the cognitive abilities, rational thinking and reasoning of even the least promising children. Chess brings out latent abilities that have not been reached by traditional educational means. It promotes logical thinking, instills a sense of selfconfidence, and self-worth, improves communication and pattern recognition skills. It teaches the values of hard work, concentration, objectivity, and, commitment. As former World Chess Champion Emmanuel Lasker said, “On the chessboard lies and hypocrisy do not survive long.”

….in chess, unlike in many other sports, you don’t ever have to retire. Age is also not a factor when you’re looking for an opponent –young can play old and old can play young.
Chess develops memory. The chess theory is complicated and many players memorize different opening variations. You will also learn to recognize various patterns and remember lengthy variations.
Chess improves concentration. During the game you are focused on only one main goal — to checkmate and become the victor.
Chess develops logical thinking. Chess requires some understanding of logical strategy. For example, you will know that it is important to bring your pieces out into the game at the beginning, to keep your king safe at all times, not to make big weaknesses in your position and not to blunder your pieces away for free. (Although you will find yourself doing that occasionally through your chess career. Mistakes are inevitable and chess, like life, is a never-ending learning process.)
Chess promotes imagination and creativity. It encourages you to be inventive. There are an indefinite amount of beautiful combinations yet to be constructed.
Chess teaches independence. You are forced to make important decisions influenced
only by your own judgment.
Chess develops the capability to predict and foresee consequences of actions. It teaches you to look both ways before crossing the street.
Chess inspires self-motivation. It encourages the search of the best move, the best plan, and the most beautiful continuation out of the endless possibilities. It encourages the everlasting aim towards progress, always steering to ignite the flame of victory.
Chess shows that success rewards hard work. The more you practice, the better you’ll become. You should be ready to lose and learn from your mistakes. One of the greatest players ever, Capablanca said, “You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.”
Chess and Science. Chess develops the scientific way of thinking. While playing, you generate numerous variations in your mind. You explore new ideas, try to predict their outcomes and interpret surprising revelations. You decide on a hypothesis, and then you make your move and test it.
Chess and Technology. What do chess players do during the game? Just like computers they engage in a search for the better move in a limited amount of time. What are you doing right now? You are using a computer as a tool for learning.
Chess and Mathematics. You don’t have to be a genius to figure this one out. Chess involves an infinite number of calculations, anything from counting the number of attackers and defenders in the event of a simple exchange to calculating lengthy continuations. And you use your head to calculate, not some little machine.
Chess and Research. There are millions of chess resources out there for every aspect of the game. You can even collect your own chess library. In life, is it important to know how to find, organize and use boundless amounts of information. Chess gives you a perfect example and opportunity to do just that.
Chess and Art. In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia chess is defined as “an art appearing in the form of a game.” If you thought you could never be an artist, chess proves you wrong. Chess enables the artist hiding within you to come out. Your imagination will run wild with endless possibilities on the 64 squares. You will paint pictures in your mind of ideal positions and perfect outposts for your soldiers. As a chess artist you will have an original style and personality.
Chess and Psychology. Chess is a test of patience, nerves, will power and concentration. It enhances your ability to interact with other people. It tests your sportsmanship in a competitive environment.
Chess improves schoolwork and grades. Numerous studies have proven that kids obtain a higher reading level, math level and a greater learning ability overall as a result of playing chess. For all those reasons mentioned above and more, chess playing kids do better at school and therefore have a better chance to succeed in life.
Chess opens up the world for you. You don’t need to be a high ranked player to enter big important competitions. Even tournaments such as the US Open and the World Open welcome players of all strengths. Chess provides you with plenty of opportunities to travel not only all around the country but also around the world. Chess is a universal language and you can communicate with anyone over the checkered plain.
Chess enables you to meet many interesting people. You will make life-long friendships with people you meet through chess.
Chess is cheap. You don’t need big fancy equipment to play chess. In fact, all you may need is your computer! (And we really hope you have one of those, or else something fishy is going on here.) It is also good to have a chess set at home to practice with family members, to take to a friend’s house or even to your local neighborhood park to get everyone interested in the game.
CHESS IS FUN! Dude, this isn’t just another one of those board games. No chess game ever repeats itself, which means you create more and more new ideas each game. It never gets boring. You always have so much to look forward to. Every game you are the general of an army and you alone decide the destiny of your soldiers. You can sacrifice them, trade them, pin them, fork them, lose them, defend them, or order them to break through any barriers and surround the enemy king. You’ve got the power!

On this link on my blog you can read more about chess and maths… https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/maths-and-chess/

On this next link…how your kids can work with money when they know everything about chess..

https://chessaleeinlondon.wordpress.com/2007/12/30/teach-your-kids-chessand-they-know-how-to-work-with-money/

Celone (2001) “Chess significantly increased student scores in non-verbal intelligence, which reflected increased abilities in abstract reasoning and problem solving.”

Smith and Sullivan (1997) “Chess education has a substantial positive effect on analytical thinking skills which are important in math, engineering and the physical sciences. The impact was particularly strong among girls.”

Rifner (1992) “Problem solving skills that chess teaches will transfer to tasks in other academic domains, including reading comprehension and math, and to enhanced performance on standardized tests of academic achievement.”

Van Zyl (1991)(South Africa) “Chess nourishes latent learning abilities, and reinforces skills in logical and abstract thinking, impulse control, endurance and determination. This was manifest as a significant improvement in both verbal and non-verbal IQ scores after three years of chess instruction.”

Liptrap (1997). “Students receiving chess instruction scored significantly higher in standardized tests of both math and reading.”

 Chess is fast track to brainier kids
Hero of US movie teaches local schools the art

April 10, 2006 Edition 1

Robyn Cohen

Fifteen years ago, David MacEnulty began teaching chess at a school in the South Bronx in New York. His students – many came from unstable backgrounds – not only turned into champions but developed self-esteem and excelled in their careers after leaving school.

MacEnulty’s experiences are fictionalised in Knights of the South Bronx, a film starring Ted Danson, which premiered on American TV late last year.

David MacEnulty is the author of three books, published by Random House: The Chess Kids Book of Tactics, The Chess Kids Book of the King and Pawn Endgame, and The Chess Kids Book of Checkmate.

He has written six e-books (two in collaboration with grandmaster Miron Sher) for the Official US Chess Federation Software and produced three videos of chess instruction.

David Berman, a South African who lives in New York for nine months of the year, saw the film in the US. Berman, who is a hedge fund manager, lives in Bantry Bay with his family for the rest of the time. Somehow, between the deal making and commuting between the Big Apple and Mother City, he also finds time for chess.

He is passionate about the game and has taught his children to play from a young age. Shortly after seeing Knights of the South Bronx on TV, he was at a chess tournament in which his son Yaakov was playing.

Someone pointed out MacEnulty: “You see that guy over there – he is the one in the film.” Berman promptly invited MacEnulty to Cape Town – “to go to the beach, maybe play a little chess”. That meeting grew exponentially to a chess road show in our city which has sparked an excited reaction from children and staff at local schools.

The film was screened at the Labia in Orange Street and received standing ovations. Schools phoned the two Davids begging them to visit.

During their two weeks in Cape Town, they went to about 20 schools; sometimes with 300-400 pupils attending. They went to private and disadvantaged schools; addressed student and staff bodies after screening the film and answered questions.

The response was “unbelievable” – with children and teachers clamouring for more. They want chess at school.

Berman’s motivation in bringing MacEnultyto Cape Town? His reason, he said, was to produce “conclusive evidence that chess makes kids smarter. It enhances creativity, problem solving, memory, concentration, self-esteem, maturity and other abilities that a parent or teacher would desire”.

I attended a screening at a school in the southern suburbs and, despite poor sound and picture quality and constant interruptions, the children were riveted.

It is a classic story of triumph over adversity with chess as the ticket out of a life with limited prospects.

MacEnulty as mentor and teacher extraordinaire provided a catalyst, motivating children to excel at chess and apply their newly acquired self-esteem to other aspects of their lives.

After the screening, MacEnulty answered questions. In the flesh he is even more charismatic than Ted Danson and it is easy to see why this dynamic teacher has inspired so many children to stretch their brains in directions they had never considered possible.

He also has a terrific sense of humour. The film, he admits, is a somewhat fictionalised account of the facts. In real life, it took his team years to get to championship status – not the one year depicted in the film.

There’s a moving scene in the film where a child plays chess with his dad who is in prison. This did not happen in real life. The jails were far away, but it is true that several of the children had parents behind bars.

The characters are largely composites of the real-life children he taught. But, as with the real life children, he had to teach the child actors how to play chess. As to whether his wife is still moaning about his life as a lowly substitute teacher (as depicted in the film): “Well, let’s put it this way, I no longer have a wife.”

In the film he is a corporate type who has ended up in the Bronx as a substitute teacher, but the real MacEnulty was employed as chess coach. He has also been an actor and musician.

Still, it makes for a compelling film and the star is undoubtedly chess – which is the bottom line. It gets the message across, loud and clear, and children throughout city schools are buying into the prospect of getting into this game.

That is good news for parents and teachers. Research indicates that chess accelerates learning skills in a huge way. The two Davids cited a number of dazzling statistics showing chess can improve IQ and comprehension retention rates.

They were results of a survey undertaken by the America’s Foundation for Chess (AF4C). Numerous studies confirm the benefits of chess instruction on students and academic performance, especially maths and reading. The studies all pointed out that “there is a positive effect of chess on intellectual achievement; not a single report fails to find such a connection”.

The researchers investigated and documented the impact of chess on a broad spectrum of academic areas: improved performance by students of diverse ages, intellectual abilities, economic and cultural backgrounds.

Chess, they report, has made a difference to children all over the world. For example, Smith and Cage (2000) observed southern, rural, black, secondary school students and found students who were taught chess scored “significantly higher on all measures of academic achievement, including math, spatial analysis, and non-verbal reasoning ability”.

Closer to home, there is Van Zyl (1991), who studied South African high school students. After three years of chess instruction, he concluded that there was a “significant improvement in both verbal and non-verbal IQ scores”.

He surmised that “chess nourishes latent learning abilities and reinforces skills in logical and abstract thinking, impulse control, endurance and determination”. The studies cited in this survey are impressive.

As a parent, it seems we all need to get wise to the benefits of chess. That is easier said than done. Our children’s concentration spans are often ambushed by TV, cellphones and other distractions.

Let’s face it, it is easier to switch on the telly than to haul out a chess board. Not all of us know how to play. “You don’t know how to play – why should we?” chorus the children – and they are correct.

As with everything, it is not enough to extol the virtues of a topic. It has to be presented in a way which makes it exciting.

Take the following example: My husband taught our children (then in grade 1 and 2) the rudiments of the game and they loved it. They attended sessions with chess whiz kids at their school and had a great time. The young teachers – national champions – gave prizes to their students which added to the excitement.

It ended when the young mentors were unable to continue due to their schedules at middle school.

My daughters learnt chess at school, but soon gave up. Why? It was boring. The teaching lacked the buzz they had been accustomed to. Chess was not part of the curriculum. It was the grudge activity where pariahs hung out because they had no one else to play with at break. Or that was the perception.

In actual fact, there were some seriously good players at the school but it seems that if you were a newcomer, this wasn’t an exciting gig.

I have seen children playing the game at home, but they would not go near a board at school because it wasn’t cool; because the teacher shouted or because they felt inadequate, playing with the brains of the school.

It seems this is not uncommon. Berman e-mailed comments to me from Peter, a SA chess coach who cautions: “Just a warning: I see the old disease of schools supporting only the top 15 players and maybe a few reserves. Chess is for all; it is a language; it helps all pupils to bring order into their academic careers and speed.”

Indeed, chess teachers need to take cognisance of the abilities of all students and need to frame the learning process as an exciting adventure – just as MacEnulty has done at the schools he has taught at in the Bronx and elsewhere.

There is a need to train the trainer. Berman is doing everything in his power to get MacEnulty back in town during the winter holidays (June/July) to run programmes with teachers.

The long-term goal would be to get chess into schools as part of the curriculum – taught during school hours. Chess is for all and with that in mind, they are hoping to get funding so the game can benefit all children.

Berman is also keen on twinning schools to encourage social interaction. A programme like this takes funding, and Berman is hedging his moves and encouraging corporations and others to make some good financial moves in getting chess into action at curriculum level.

The day after watching the film and hearing MacEnulty speak, my daughters and their friends hauled out the chess board and dusted it off. They played a game on Saturday evening which went on for hours. They were all exhausted and remarked that it was a jol, but that they were tired – their brains were sore.

Source:http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=272&fArticleId=3197176


Image from the movie: Knights of the South Bronx

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