CHESS A TOOL

FOR
EDUCATION &

HEALTH
 FIDE --
FIDE
CHESS FOR
CHESS FOR
CONTENTS
2 Morals of Chess 10 Psychomotor Skills
3 Chess in Bloom 11 STEM Skills
4 Thinking Skills 12 Cognitive Abilities
5 Educational Cutlery 13 Life Skills & Counselling
6 Critical & Creative Thinking - 14 Ethical Sense
Chess in the Educational Process 15 ADHD & Autism
7 Chess as a Teaching Tool 16 Social Benefits & Minorities
8 Educational Benefits of Chess 18 Health Benefits
19 Beating Cognitive Decline

20 Smart Girl Uganda 33 FIDE School Instructor title

21 Queen of Katwe 34 FIDE School Chess Leader
22 Prisons - Chess That Brings diploma
Freedom 35 Support for Teachers
26 Alzheimer's - Checkmating 36 European Parliament
Dementia 38 European Union – Erasmus+
28 Teaching Programs - 4-6 Early 39 European Chess Union
Years Skills 40 CiS Around the World
30 Teaching Programs - 7-11 42 Chess & Education Conferences
Planet Chess and others 44 Research
32 Teacher Training 46 Bibliography
EDUCATION,
EDUCATION, 01
& HEALTH
& HEALTH

FIDE was founded in 1924. This work has been extended

It is officially recognized as the by the more recent
world governing body for Commissions for Social Action
chess by the IOC. (2012) and Social Projects
FIDE has always concentrated (2012).
on competitive chess,
organizing world The objective is to use chess
championships and doing a lot in ways that provide benefit
of work educating chess in education, social
players, coaches, trainers and development and health
arbiters to improve their skills. from childhood to old age.
Since the foundation in 1984 of
the Chess in Schools
Commission, FIDE has been using
chess more and more for
educational purposes, not for the
sake of teaching chess and not to
create better chess players, but
to improve children’s
educational outcomes.
 MORALS
02 MORALS
OF CHESS
OF CHESS
The value of chess as a tool for education &
social benefits was first recognized by
Benjamin Franklin in 1786.

In his article, The Morals of Chess,

he wrote "life is a kind of chess" and
that by playing chess, we may learn
foresight, circumspection and
caution and also "the habit of not
being discouraged by present bad
appearances in the state of our
affairs ... persevering in the search
of resources".

The educational benefits of chess

came to be widely recognized
during the 20th century.

It is only really in this 21st century

that the social and health benefits
of chess have begun to be
appreciated.
 CHESS IN
CHESS IN 03
BLOOM
BLOOM
Benjamin Bloom (1956) developed a
classification of levels of intellectual
behaviour in learning. His taxonomy
covers three domains: the cognitive,
psychomotor, and affective.

The psychomotor and affective

domains are at the heart of our Early
Years Skills programme.

The cognitive domain list has been the

primary focus of most traditional
education and is frequently used to
structure curriculum learning
objectives, assessments and activities.

Within the cognitive domain, he

identified six levels: knowledge,
comprehension, application,
analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation.
04THINKING
THINKING
SKILLS
SKILLS
Higher Order Thinking Skills

Creating
All academic subjects,
Evaluating as well as chess, provide
a simple and direct way to
develop the three lower
Analysing
order thinking skills -
Remembering, Understanding
Applying and Applying.

However, things are very

Understanding different when it comes to
the three higher order skills -
Remembering Analysing, Evaluating and
Creating. Academic subjects
rarely provide a way to teach
Lower Order Thinking Skills these.

An issue for students from poverty is the

underdevelopment of thinking skills due
to an environment that lacks enrichment.
The gap in development is a result of the
impoverished social context. Chess as a
way of "learning through play" provides
the social context in which to develop or
remediate thinking skills ..."
Those three skills – analysis,
evaluation and creation – are [Joseph Eberhard, Ed.D]
all involved at every step of a
chess game! It is a perfect
description of chess playing.
EDUCATIONAL 05
EDUCATIONAL
CUTLERY
CUTLERY
"Schools and educators
need a simple and direct
way to teach process
standards" ('thinking
skills')
[Nash 2011]

It is important that the

content should not keep
expanding every day.

The main challenge for

children should be to explore
and develop the way that we
think. If it could be fun as
well, that would be ideal.

Chess provides the perfect

educational cutlery for teaching
those higher order thinking skills,
using a combination of both critical
thinking and creative thinking.

Dr Alexey Root (Senior Lecturer, School

of Interdisciplinary Studies, University
of Texas, Dallas) has demonstrated in a
series of books (see Bibliography) how
chess can be used to link with and
support all the core curriculum
subjects.
 CRITICAL &
06CRITICAL &
CREATIVE THINKING
CREATIVE THINKING
Critical thinking involves logical thinking and
reasoning, including skills such as comparison,
classification, sequencing, cause/effect, patterning,
analogies, deductive and inductive reasoning,
forecasting, planning, hypothesizing, and critiquing.

Creative thinking involves creating

something new or original. It involves the
skills of flexibility, originality, fluency,
elaboration, brainstorming, modification,
imagery, associative thinking, attribute
listing, metaphorical thinking,
forced relationships. The aim
of creative thinking is to
stimulate curiosity and
promote divergence.
CHESS IN THE
EDUCATIONAL
PROCESS
Contributes to development - affective,
cognitive and, using the Early Years Skills
programme, psychomotor.

DEVELOPS SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

Concentration, Attention, Spatial skills, Logical
thinking, Imagination, Creativity.
Encourages acceptance of contrary ideas.
Aids inhibitory control (control of reflex actions).
Prioritizes reflection (think before you act).
 CHESS AS A 07
TEACHING TOOL
SCHOOLS NEED:
a simple and direct way to
teach thinking skills
where the rules are simple
gamification and
motivation a plus
where the content doesn’t where the main challenge for
keep expanding every day children is to explore and
develop the way that we think.

Chess has all the qualities

needed to be an excellent
teaching tool.
Chess can be used to solve
many educational problems,
especially when used to teach
the thinking skills.
 EDUCATIONAL
08EDUCATIONAL
BENEFITS OF
BENEFITS OF CHESS
CHESS
Chess teaches children to think analytically, logically and on
more than one level.

The educational benefits of chess are many and

varied.

They are well documented by a large body

of research papers from around the
world. There is so much evidence, that
it is easy to miss the wood for the If detailed evidence is
trees, therefore we keep this required, please refer to the
intentionally brief. sources and links in the
Research and Bibliography
sections.

Chess helps promote intellectual

growth and has been shown to
improve academic performance.

Chess is a powerful tool for developing

thinking and memory in children

It also helps them build up their

decision-making tools. It educates
them to be responsible for their
decisions and the consequences of
those decisions.
.
 The most frequently cited general
benefits include the development of:

Cognitive abilities, such as Increased creativity,

09
attention, memory, and logical through problem solving.
thinking; essential skills for the
development of the individual.

Critical thinking, improving Ethical sense.

the ability to assess strengths Improvements in attitude
and weaknesses, establish and general behaviour are
value judgments and make often noted.
decisions.

Improvements in Better results in

literacy. mathematics.

Research in Armenia (2014) showed the

Research in Armenia
difference (2014)between
in creativity showedchildren
the
difference in creativity
in four grades - the between children
three younger ones
in four
had been in the chess program,ones
grades - the three younger the
hadolder
beenones
in thehadchess
not.program, the
older ones had not.
 PSYCHOMOTOR
10 PSYCHOMOTOR
SKILLS
SKILLS
Psychomotor learning is the relationship
between cognitive functions and
physical movement. Psychomotor
learning is demonstrated by
Children learn through the fun
physical skills such as
of play to respect and control their
movement, coordination,
bodies, as well as being given the
manipulation, dexterity,
chance to express themselves and
grace, strength and
establish interpersonal relationships
speed.
through movement, increasing
consciousness and perception of
their own physical self.

The FIDE Early Years Skills program

teaches basic STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Mathematics) skills to young
children (4-6) using psychomotricity
techniques (games, song, dance) on a giant
chessboard.

The quality and awareness of

movement that such exercises
provide has a direct and positive
effect on the entire range of a child’s
psychological resources: the ability to
communicate, to perceive and resolve
problems, to recognize him or herself
as an individual – in short, they
supply indispensable tools for
successful interaction with others.
STEM
STEM 11
SKILLS
SKILLS
"... the ability to generate, understand
and analyse empirical data including
critical analysis; ... the ability to apply
a systematic and critical assessment
of complex problems with an
emphasis on solving them and
applying the theoretical knowledge
of the subject to practical problems; ...
ingenuity, logical reasoning and
practical intelligence.” Data-driven decision-making
"Students need to be able to make a
[UK Parliament quoted in EU
decision not just based on what they
Skills Panorama 2014]
think or feel, but on scientific data
that supports the best solution.
Everyone needs to know how to do
Argumentation
this. It doesn’t matter whether you
"using analytical and critical-thinking
go on to a career in STEM or
skills to look for patterns in data,
not—you need to know how to use
trying to determine what those
data to make informed decisions in
patterns mean, and then using that
your life."
data to support a claim."
[Stacy Klein-Gardner, director of
[Eric Brunsell, associate
Center for STEM Education for Girls,
professor of science education,
Nashville, USA]
University of Wisconsin]

Problem-solving
"Employers talk about
problem-solving. Society requires
problem-solving. Doing your taxes
requires problem-solving. Those
are the types of skills that really
matter."
[James Brown, executive director,
STEM Education Coalition]
 COGNITIVE
COGNITIVE
12ABILITIES
Chess is noted as
beneficial for
ABILITIES cognitive skills:

Focusing Attention - Children soon

learn that if they don't watch what is
happening on the chessboard, they
can't respond to it, no matter how
clever they are.

Visualization - Imagining a sequence of

actions before it happens. This ability is
strengthened by moving the pieces in the
mind before doing so on the board.

Abstract Reasoning - The ability to

analyse information, detect patterns and
relationships, and solve problems is
developed. One learns to take
patterns used in one context and
apply them to different, but
related situations.

Planning - Developing longer

range goals and taking steps Three that apply
to bring them about. The in schools’
need to re-evaluate programs but that are
plans as of prime importance for
developments the projects in prisons:
change the
situation. Thinking Ahead - Learning to
think first, then act.

Weighing Options - Learning that you don't have

to do the first thing that pops into the mind.

Analysing Concretely - Does this

sequence help me or hurt me?
 LIFE SKILLS
LIFE SKILLS &
& 13
COUNSELLING
COUNSELLING
There are many programs
that use chess as a medium
to teach life skills. It has
also been very successfully
used for counselling.

Moreno (2002) provides a detailed

model (see Bibliography) with
specific examples for:

Conflict Resolution/Fights Goal Setting

Finding Your Own Skills Short and Long Term Goals
Stealing Healthy Development
Making Wise Decisions Taking Risks

TEACHERS
"Chess is an excellent vehicle for growth in interpersonal relations."
"It is helpful for students as they reflect on how their decisions and actions
impact on them and others."

STUDENTS
"Chess has helped me to respect other students."
"Chess helped me to see the consequences of my behavior."
 ETHICAL
14ETHICAL
SENSE
SENSE Franklin in 1786 was the
first to allude to this.
Schools chess programs in
many countries have reported
improvements in attitude and general
behaviour (“ethical sense”).

"Chess teaches fairness. You alert the

opponent before you strike, and
keep them informed of your
moves and intentions.”
[Jacob Zuma]
"Morality is respect of the
rules. ... Education to fairness is
an important goal of chess lessons."
[Marion Boensch-Kauke, psychologist]

The game and concept of chess is based on the

assumption that everyone involved /
concerned observe existing rules and
regulations and attaches the greatest
importance to fair play and good
sportsmanship.
[FIDE Handbook]
ADHD &
ADHD & 15
AUTISM
AUTISM

Luis Blasco began a project in Collado Villalba,

Madrid in 2012. A methodology was designed to use
chess as a tool for helping students with ADHD. It
attracted a great deal of media coverage in Spain.

In 2013 a new project began - Chess4ADHD.com. It won a special

prize at the 2015 London Conference on Chess and Society.

Also in Madrid, Hilario Blasco-Fontecilla tested the results when 44

children with a primary diagnosis of ADHD underwent an 11-week
chess-training program. "Our results suggest a large effect in
decreasing the severity of ADHD." [Blasco-Fontecilla et al. (2016)]
An earlier poster presentation concluded that "chess playing is
a therapeutic choice for children with ADHD."

Attention is now turning also to the areas of Autism,

Asperger Syndrome and Down Syndrome. Dr
Sandra Maria Guisso reported in 2017 to the
FIDE Social Projects Commission about a
very successful intervention with a
nine-year-old autistic child in Brazil.
 SOCIAL BENEFITS
BENEFITS
16&& MINORITIES
SOCIAL
MINORITIES

Closely allied to the educational

benefits, these include:
reduced delinquency
reduced drug use

Reductions in delinquency and in drug improved ethical sense

use have been noted particularly by the improved discipline
Chess-in-the-Schools program (mostly
in The Bronx and Harlem) and by Orrin improved sense of fairness
Hudson's “Be Someone” program, with
integration of minorities
its emphasis on learning “life lessons”,
both in the USA. improved social mobility

MINORITIES
Bring Minorities in Games is a 3-year
social project in Aarhus and
Copenhagen. In partnership with the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Aarhus
Municipality, Dansk Skoleskak uses
school chess clubs not only as a
gateway to community activities for the
children and their parents – but also as
a stepping stone towards involvement
in other kinds of social activities
such as sports and voluntary
social work.
 17

Chess often serves as a bridge, For children with adjustment issues,

bringing together children of there are many examples where
different ages, races and genders in chess has led to increased
an activity they can all enjoy. motivation, improved behaviour,
better self-image, and even
Chess helps build individual improved attendance.
friendships and also school spirit
when children compete together as Chess provides a positive social
teams against other schools. outlet, a wholesome recreational
activity that can be easily learned
Chess also teaches children about and enjoyed at any age.A
sportsmanship - how to win
graciously and not give up when
encountering defeat.

New York's 89% of teachers

Chess-in-the-Schools program reported that chess
surveyed the schools in their 89% enriched their students’
program after the 2016-2017 social skills.
year and found:
89% of teachers 91% of teachers
reported that reported that practicing
89% practicing chess 91% chess enhanced
increased students’ students’ cooperation
self-esteem. skills.
 HEALTH
HEALTH
18BENEFITS
BENEFITS
An increasing amount of attention is being paid to the health benefits of
chess. These are mostly quite recent discoveries and point to the great value
of learning chess during childhood since it seems to confer health benefits
almost from the cradle to the grave. They can be summarized as:

• Chess leads to an • Chess helps to prevent anxiety

improvement in cognitive and depression by encouraging
functioning and has been self-improvement, improving
cited as a significant tool in self-esteem and self-confidence.
the fight against Alzheimer's. By contrast, excessive time spent
on activities that do not
• Chess can help patients challenge the brain, particularly
who have suffered from tv watching, has been linked to
stroke to recover. an increased incidence of
depression.
• Chess assists recovery in • Chess (as recreational
people suffering from therapy) helps prevent or
physical and emotional reduce non-adaptive or
disability. inappropriate
behaviour

It has long been known

that chess improves attention,
memory, organization skills and
perception.

It improves the ability of

cognitive-impaired individuals to work
on issues related to orientation,
sensory stimulation and
environmental awareness.
 BEATING
BEATING
COGNITIVE DECLINE
COGNITIVE DECLINE 19
A team from Valencia University The object of the study was to examine
Hospital, led by Dr José Miguel whether the mental exercise
Lainez Andrés, reported some very performed during the learning and
impressive results concerning the practice of chess has an impact on
value of chess as an intervention improving the performance of some
therapy against cognitive decline. cognitive abilities in older subjects.

The authors pointed out that chess

is a complete mental training; in
addition to sports and
psychological factors, the player is Their hypothesis was that "Learning to
forced to be highly accurate in play chess at the cognitive level is
this complex and elaborate beneficial in older people."
mental process.
The study population consisted of
users of specialized centres for the care
of the elderly in four locations around
Spain. The chess group attended a
weekly chess class for seven months,
while the control group attended
other courses. Standard tests were
used to assess changes in cognitive
abilities.

The researchers discovered that,

broadly speaking, approximately two
thirds of the entire experimental
group of subjects experienced an
improvement in
neuropsychological test
performance, usually
progressive.
 SMARTGIRL
GIRL
20UGANDA
SMART
UGANDA
Chess was launched in Gulu in the
North of Uganda in 2009 by Robert
Katende. In 2013, he gained support
from the national chess federation
and FIDE's Social Action
Commission.

The programs have grown

substantially and the lives of many
children, especially the girls, have
been empowered with improved
social and life skills using this chess
platform.
SOM Chess Academy, through the
Beatriz Marinello, Chair of the Social support of the Uganda Chess
Action Commission, has also Federation, has continued to
secured scholarships for the children implement the ‘Smart Girl Chess
and she continues to advocate for Program’ supported in part by the
the empowerment and FIDE Social Action Commission,
transformation of children through the leadership of Robert
through chess. Katende.

Koro Primary school girl’s chess

team from Gulu emerged
champions in the 2017 National
Schools Championship. The team
was comprised of the girls from the
Smart Girl chess program!
 QUEENOF
QUEEN OF
KATWE
KATWE
21
Robert Katende began a Ugandan
Sports Outreach program in Katwe,
the largest of Kampala's slums in
2002-2003.

The highly praised Disney movie

Queen of Katwe depicts the life of
Phiona Mutesi. She learns to play
chess and not long after, in 2006,
aged about 10, wins the Uganda
National Junior Chess
Championship, which she retained
for three years in a row.
In 2010 she saw her first snow while
playing second board for Uganda at
the Women's Chess Olympiad in
Kanty-Mansiysk, Siberia. She gained
the title of Woman Candidate
Master at the 2012 Istanbul
Olympiad.

The movie trailer is at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=hrMoDdofM98.

Robert currently runs chess centres

in five Kampala slums and seven
centres in Gulu communities -
transforming lives through chess.
 PRISONS
22PRISONS
"... so much criminality is a complete
failure to think before acting, or to
take responsibility for decisions."
[Dominic Lawson]

Isolated chess events in prisons go

back at least to 1960 when future
World Champion Robert Fischer
played 20 inmates simultaneously in
Rikers Island prison while 2400
prisoners watched and the prison
band played.
Its origins lay in the early 1980s
Ireland was one of the first countries within St. Patrick's Institution for
with a chess in prisons program. 17-21-year-old males and part of
Mountjoy Prison. Max Brohan, a
chess-playing prison officer,
requisitioned a chess set for two
inmates.

Interest in chess spread and in 1992

official chess tuition classes began.

In 1995 a team, given special

dispensation to play all their matches
at home, was entered into the
Leinster Chess League. By 1996,
almost half the inmates, 107 were
involved in the program.
 CHESSTHAT
CHESS THAT
BRINGSFREEDOM
BRINGS FREEDOM 23
The video Chess That Brings
Freedom won a prestigious 'Spirit of
Sport' prize at the 2012 SportAccord
convention:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=t9MUlWNYVws

Cook County Jail, Chicago, Illinois is

the largest county jail in the USA.
Inspired by the Chess That Brings
Freedom project, it began a chess
program in 2012. About 150
detainees pass through the program
This program has been running each year.
successfully in Brazil's Espirito Santo
state since 2008, using chess to In 2016 the seven best players
develop cognitive, moral and played an online tournament
social awareness among the against inmates of several different
prisoners. prisons in Russia. That was followed
in 2017 by an online match against
four prisoners in the Viana complex
in Brazil.

"The goal is not to make them world

champions," says Mikhail Korenman,
who runs the program and does the
teaching in Cook. "The goal is that
when they get out of correctional
facilities, they can use chess in
everyday life, making right
decisions under time pressure;
winning; seeing they can do
it themselves."
 PRISONS
24PRISONS
-ITALY
-ITALY

In December 2016 the first ever FIDE Rated

tournament inside a prison was held - the 'Open
Casa di Reclusione' as part of the Italian 'Sport in
Carcere' project which began 2015 in Spoleto
maximum security prison.

Four FIDE rated players came in from outside,

including Italy's Woman Champion. Five inmates
also played in the tournament. The event was
supported by CONI (the Italian Olympic
Committee).

"In my life, since I was a teenager, I had always

been attracted by drugs, especially by cocaine
and everything related to it, and by the way it
makes your head speed up; ... but today for the
first time I am interested in a world that makes
your head spin not in a frenetic way as cocaine
does, but in a new and fascinating way."
Several countries are starting or preparing to start a
program in the wake of Chess that Brings Freedom.
25
Guatemala and Trinidad & Tobago started in 2017. Costa
Rica and Honduras plan to start in 2018. FIDE's Social
Projects Commission is at the heart of these programs.

2017 saw the publication of Chess Behind Bars by Carl

Portman, the English Chess Federation's Manager of Chess
in Prisons.

The 2017 London Chess Conference featured a talk on

Chess in Prisons by Kajetan Wandowicz, who runs a project
in Bristol Prison, Carl Portman, who has established chess
clubs in three English prisons and Leontxo Garcia, who has
lectured in prisons in Spain and Mexico.

A program was begun in Spain in 2009. In 2012 it won

the silver medal for Mérito Social Penitenciario. It has
now been introduced (2016-2017) in 17 prisons in
Mexico.
26ALZHEIMER’S
CHECKMATING
–

DEMENTIA
Some aspects of age-related
cognitive decline begin in healthy
educated adults when they are in
their 20s and 30s (Salthouse
2009). These declines may seem
relatively minor compared with
problems that may appear later in
life such as Alzheimer's disease
and dementia, but it's never too
early to take care of our brains.

Most attention is being paid to the value of chess in the fight against
Alzheimer's which blights the lives of 35 million people and their
families.

Research among those over the age of 60 strongly suggests

that chess is valuable in combating Alzheimer's. A
collaborative Franco-Russian research effort began
in 2010 between the Centre Hospitalier
Universitaire of Nice, led by
Professor Philippe Robert
and Prof. Vladimir
Zakharov's team
from the Moscow
State Medical
University.
 27

Dr David Shenk, author of The Forgetting,

commented on the value of chess as an Alzheimer’s
antidote: "You need to exercise your brain. Chess is a
particularly good brain builder. It's quite easy to
learn, but the possibilities are endless - you never
run out of a challenge."

Asked when it is best to learn, he answered "the

earlier the better. Particularly for young kids, chess is
like a Stairmaster for logical thinking."

Prevention is better than cure and teaching chess in

schools is a cheap way to implement something of
known value as an antidote.

Checkmating Dementia is a new organization in the

USA where more than 5 million Americans are
affected by Alzheimer's -
http://www.checkmatingdementia.com/

It is an excellent resource for further information -

look under Research & Articles there.
28PROGRAMS 4-6
EARLY YEARS
EARLY YEARS SKILLS
SKILLS
Through song, dance and games,
children in kindergarten learn
basic concepts useful for STEM
subjects.

This program can best be

understood by watching the
children during lessons in the 52
videos on our dedicated web site
eys.fide.com.

PSYCHOMOTOR & AFFECTIVE

The children are the central figures in
developmental game playing, progressively
developing their sensory-motor capacity by
requiring the use of active intelligence during
game activities.
These highly beneficial lessons take place in an
exclusive and protected space: the GIANT
chessboard. Experience shows that this becomes
a magical experience for kids – a bridge between
reality and imagination.
Carefully structured game activities
heighten children's self-esteem as well
as providing a unique opportunity to
build relationships with
companions based on loyalty,
responsibility and
partnership.
OBJECTIVES FOR 29
THE CHILDREN
Gain command of lateral space
and movement to improve
time-space organization.
Learn and experiment with single
adirections - vertical (forward and
backwards); horizontal (right and
left); diagonal and directions in
combination.
Learn letters and numbers
through psychomotor
experience. Develop the capacity to
Learn and experiment with resolve problematic situations.
different rhythms. Form/Develop ‘strategies’.
Improve the capacity to Enrich vocabulary and
concentrate and react to given expressive precision.
stimuli.
Learn respect and collaboration
Develop self-control and through team play.
command over general
possibilities and limitations. See the chessmen as characters
and, finally, understand how
Create a safe environment by they move on the
respecting the rules. chessboard.

FOR THE TEACHERS

The manual lists the teaching objectives
and for each lesson provides a summary,
an equipment list, a fairy tale, main
instructions and activity details for
the teacher.
 PROGRAMS 7-11
30 PRIMARY SCHOOL
PROGRAMS 7-11
PRIMARY SCHOOL
FIDE has developed or acquired
several programs for children in this
primary age group.

The materials are available for free

and can be downloaded from
cis.fide.com.

They may be freely used in the

classroom, either in pdf form or
printed out. The most important materials are:

The books by Dr Olgun Kulaç, originally

used in the Turkish program that began in
2005. The course comprises two books,
elementary and intermediate levels for
two years, and a teacher guide. These are
available in English, French and Arabic.

Chess: The First Year of Study, together

with an accompanying workbook, was
developed in Russia but both are
available for download in English.
PLANET CHESS
PLANET CHESS 31
This is FIDE's very own program,
developed by the CiS Commission
FIDE STUDENT
for children 7-11. MAGAZINE
In 2018 this will be available in a This e-magazine started in 2011 and
much expanded 2nd edition. The the 140+ issues now provide a
first edition is available in many treasure trove of 1000+ pages of
languages, including English, material of interest to children of all
French, Spanish, Arabic and more. ages, but especially useful for
teachers of the 7-11 age group who
At present this provides a one year wish to continue classes after they
basic introduction. It has been have exhausted the main program
specifically designed for use by materials.
teachers with almost no knowledge
of chess.
 TEACHER TRAINING
32 TEACHERS OR -

'CHESS TUTORS'

The pedagogical expertise of a

teacher and his or her knowledge of
pupils makes the learning
environment more favourable
compared to the use of a chess
The work of chess tutors, who come expert, who has not received the
into schools as external experts, same relevant pedagogical training.
remains the primary mode around the
world for Chess in Schools projects. These ideas underlie the FIDE courses
for School Instructor and FIDE Chess
Countries where the Education Leader and the CASTLE project.
Ministry has launched a training
program for teachers and chess has
entered the educational system as
part of the general syllabus, are in a
minority.
TEACHERS TO TEACH
CHESS – SCHOOL 33
INSTRUCTOR

By the end of 2017 hundreds of

teachers across Africa, the Americas,
Asia and Europe had successfully
FIDE instituted a course leading to passed the course and its exam and
the title of School Instructor in 2012. obtained the title of School
The objective of the course is to Instructor.
meld the pedagogical expertise of
teachers with a very basic A notable development in 2017 was
knowledge of chess sufficient to the introduction of a combined
introduce children to the game. course, all in the Spanish language,
of School Instructor and the Spanish
Diploma of Docente de Ajedrez. This
is a joint effort by FIDE, the Spanish
Chess Federation (FEDA) and the
Iberoamerican Chess Federation
(FIBDA).
 FIDE SCHOOL
34FIDE SCHOOL
CHESS LEADER
CHESS LEADER
This Diploma course is part of continuing CiS
education, primarily for teachers who already
have the School Instructor title.

In development since 2015, it is being

introduced at the beginning of 2018.

EARLY YEARS
SKILLS
OBJECTIVES The 52 videos demonstrating the
practice of this program effectively
Improve chess teaching skills; form a training course for teachers
who wish to introduce this
An FSCL should be able to prepare program – eys.fide.com.
and organize a chess season, be it
in a school, club or other
association.

Acquire or develop the ability to

support other chess teachers in the
same school or locality;

An FSCL should be able to liaise with

school organizations, public agencies,
social networks and the national chess
federation.
 SUPPORT FOR
SUPPORT FOR 35
TEACHERS
TEACHERS

In addition to program
materials, FIDE provides
support material.

Support materials, specially for

teachers who have passed the FIDE
courses, which are aimed at helping
them with their task and broadening
their knowledge of chess and chess
teaching should they aim to build a
multi-year program for their school.

For teachers who wish to develop

their knowledge even further, and
help those children who would
like to move into competitive
chess, there is a wealth of material
available for free download from
the FIDE Trainers Commission:
trainers.fide.com. Most of the
Trainers’ material is of a very high
level, but some of the books on
the recommended reading list and
some of the surveys are fine for
intermediate level players.
36 EUROPEAN
EUROPEAN
PARLIAMENT
PARLIAMENT
A. whereas the Treaty on the Functioning of the
European Union, in its Article 6, provides that sport is
among the areas ‘where the Union shall have competences
to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement
the actions of the Member States’;

B. whereas chess is an accessible game for children

from every social group and can help social cohesion and
contribute to policy objectives such as social integration,
combating discrimination, reducing crime rates and even
the fight against various addictions;

C. whereas whatever the age of the child, chess can

improve children's concentration, patience and persistence
and can develop the sense of creativity, intuition, memory,
and analytic and decision-making skills; whereas chess also
teaches determination, motivation and sportsmanship;
 37
3. Calls on the Commission to
take into consideration the results
of any studies on the effects of this
programme on children's
1. Calls on the Commission
and the Member States to
development;

encourage the introduction of the

programme ‘Chess in School’ in the
4. Instructs its President to
forward this declaration, together
educational systems of the
with the names of the signatories,
Member States;
to the Commission and to the
Parliaments of the Member States.

2. Calls on the Commission, in

its forthcoming communication on
sport, to pay the necessary
[Written Declaration
attention to the program ‘Chess in 50/2011 needed 369
School’ and to ensure sufficient MEPs to sign. It was adopted
funding for it from 2012 onwards; 2012.03.15 with 415
signatories, Ref.
P7_TA(2012)0097]
38 EUROPEAN UNION
The Erasmus+ program is an important EU funding
mechanism for Chess in Schools projects, especially
those with a strong research element.

The biggest project was CASTLE, which ran

2014-2017 with EU funding of €246,000.

CASTLE = a Chess curriculum to Advance Students'

Thinking and Learning skills in primary
Education.

FIDE was a stakeholder in CASTLE and

contributed additional funding,
resulting in our Early Years Skills
program, its 52 videos and
explanatory manual.

Among Erasmus+ projects

currently running is that on
Multidimensional Analytical Training in
Education (MATE). This is a collaboration of
Spanish and Lithuanian Universities and the
Wyzsza Szkola Ekonomii i Innowacji of
Lublin as coordinator, with EU funding of
€207,000.

The MATE project plans to develop three

software modules: testing and assessing
chess skills, testing cognitive competencies,
and training chess and cognitive skills.
 EUROPEAN 39
CHESS UNION
The ECU (founded 1985) formed an The role of ECU-EDU is to develop and
Educational Commission (ECU-EDU) promote chess as part of children's
in 2014. education and, like FIDE-CiS,
The ECU has been instrumental in concentrates on educational chess,
organizing conferences, including not competitive chess.
the 2016 CiS conference in the
European Parliament. In 2017 ECU-EDU introduced the ECU
School Chess Teacher Certificate and
It has partnered with the London began to organize chess training for
Chess Conference since 2015. teachers in several European countries.

More information can be found at

www.europechess.org and at
CHESS IN SCHOOLS http://ecuchesseducation.co
ACTIVITY
No response m/ (ECU-EDU web site).
High

Moderate

Russia
 CIS AROUND
40 CIS AROUND
THE WORLD
THE WORLD

Precise figures are hard to come by, but Armenia was the first nation (2011) to
30 million or more children take part in introduce chess as a compulsory part of the
chess in school programs around the school curriculum. The State Pedagogical
world every week. Of these, 6-7 million University is one of the leading research
are in Europe, about 20 million in Asia, institutions in the world studying the
2-3 million in the Americas and 1 million benefits of educational chess. Armenian
in Africa. schools teach chess as a purely academic
There is an almost complete A-Z (no X) of subject, so the focus is educational not
at least 138 countries around the world competitive chess.
with CiS programs small or large: Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas,
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize,
Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina,
Botswana, where chess in schools has made
such an impact that in the 2017 National
Sports Commission awards, chess took three
of them.

ASIA

AFRICA
 41

Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Bulgaria, Burkina Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Nigeria,
Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, China, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine,
Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Puerto Rico,
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, San Marino,
Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Senegal, Serbia, Scotland, Singapore,
Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa,
Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guam, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan,
Guatemala, Guernsey, Haiti, Honduras, Swaziland,
Hungary, Iceland,
Sweden has its excellent Schack4an project
India has about 17 million children involved which provides a superb model for projects
nationwide, especially in the states of Gujarat that want to maximize social inclusivity.
and Tamil Nadu where chess is part of the
curriculum. Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo,
Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine,
Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Uruguay, USA, US Virgin Islands, Venezuela,
Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Vietnam, Wales, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho,
Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, More information about many of these
Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Malta, programs can be found at cis.fide.com.
Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova,
Mongolia, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands,

AMERICAS
EUROPE
 CHESS
CHESS &
& EDUCATION
EDUCATION
42CONFERENCES
CONFERENCES
Recent years have seen ever more conferences on the subject
of chess in education. The most important ones have been:
2001 • Dallas, George Koltanowski Memorial 2011 • Satka, Problems of teaching chess in
Conference on Chess and Education. schools and kindergartens in Russia and
Reports of the proceedings of almost all these other countries around the world.
conferences are available, many of them from
the Conferences section at cis.fide.com. 2012
• Istanbul, Chess and Education.
2004 • Menorca, 1er Congreso Internacional • Turin, Chess and Mathematics: Learning by
de la Enseñanza del Ajedrez. Playing.

2007 • Aberdeen, Chess in the Schools and 2013

Communities Conference. • London, Successes and Challenges;
Improving School Chess Practice, Research
2008 • Tomsk, Problems and prospects of
and Strategy.
the development of chess education in
Russia. • Chongqing, On-site Promotion for Building
up National Chess Tradition Schools.
2009
• Khanty-Mansiysk, Chess Education – an
• Turin, Chess a game to grow up with.
Important Resource of the World System of
• Moscow, Chess in Russia’s education system
Education.
and the world.
• Bucharest, Simpozionul Educatie prin sah.
2010 • Madrid - 1st International Conference on
• Mexico City, El ajedrez, es una herramienta the Applications of Chess and Education
fundamental. - Chess Helps You Think (in Spanish).
• Khanty-Mansiysk, Chess as a subject in an
innovative educational system.

2011 • Dallas, 2nd George Koltanowski

Memorial Conference on Chess and
Education.
 43

2016
• London, Didactics of Chess.
• Batumi, 1st ECU Education Chess
Conference.
• Tsaghkadzor (Armenia), Theoretical and
Practical Issues of Chess Education in
Schools.
• Montevideo, Congreso Panamericano de
Ajedrez Escolar.
• Geneva, 1er Forum Echecs et Education.
• Warsaw, Education through Chess in
School.
2014 Brussels, European Parliament Chess in
• London, Chess and Mathematics. School Conference.
• Yerevan, International Conference Chess in
Schools. 2017
• Tromsø, Social aspects of chess. • London, Scholastic Chess.
• Sabadell, II Jornadas de Ajedrez Infantil • Cordoba (Argentina), Congreso
Ciudad de Sabadell - Los valores Internacional de Ajedrez Social y Educativo.
pedagogicos del ajedrez en la etapa
• Madrid, CASTLE Project.
educativa.
• Turin, CASTLE Project.
2015 • Warsaw, International Methodical
• London, Chess and Society. Conference "Chess in School".
• Ankara, International Level Comparison of
Chess Education Models for Preschool level. • Madrid, Pedagogia y Aplicaciones del
Ajedrez en el Aula.

Reports of the proceedings of almost all these conferences are available,

many of them from the Conferences section at cis.fide.com.
 RESEARCH
44RESEARCH
In our view the single most important piece
of research comes from Armenia. See
Aghuzumtsyan and Poghosyan (2014) The
impact of chess lessons on formation and
development of the students. It is available
at http://www.iccs.chessacademy.am/

The main repositories of important research on chess

in schools are:
The FIDE-CiS web site:
cis.fide.com

The research portal of the Chess Club

and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis:
https://saintlouischessclub.org/education/research

The research portal of the UK organization Chess in

Schools and Communities:
http://www.chessinschools.co.uk/research.htm

It is expected that ECU-EDU will

add a similar portal in 2018.
 INTERESTING
INTERESTING
RECENT RESEARCH
RECENT RESEARCH 45
Blasco-Fontecilla, Hilario et al.
(2016) Efficacy of chess training
for the treatment of ADHD,
Rosholm, Michael et al. (2017) Your
Revista de Psiquiatria y Salud
move: The effect of chess on
Mental, 2016;9(1):13-21.
mathematics test scores. Plos One,
https://doi.org/10.1371/
journal.pone.0177257
Sala, Giovanni et al. (2016). Does
chess instruction enhance
mathematical ability in children? A
three group design to control for
Sala, Giovanni et al. (2017) The
placebo effects, in Proceedings of
Effects of Chess Instruction on
the 38th Annual Meeting of the
Pupils' Cognitive and Academic
Cognitive Science Society.
Skills: State of the Art and
(Philadelphia, PA).
Theoretical Challenges. Frontiers
in Psychology (23 February 2017)
whence it can be downloaded.
46 BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY -
LITERATURE REVIEWS
Nicotera, Anna and Stuit, David (2014) Literature Review of Chess Studies.
In a systematic review of the literature, this report examined the degree to
which existing empirical evidence supports the theory that participation
in chess programs, whether designed as in-school or after-school
programs, resulted in improved academic, cognitive, and/or behavioural
outcomes for school-aged children. It can be downloaded from the
Research Portal of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
(saintlouischessclub.org).
McDonald, Patrick (2006?) The Benefits of Chess in Education, A Collection
of Studies and Papers on Chess and Education. A very useful compilation
of more than 20 papers and a guide to further resources. It can be
downloaded from the Resource and Information Centre at cis.fide.com.
Ferguson, Robert (2001) Chess and Learning: An Annotated Bibliography
(in Chess and Education, Redman ed., 2006, University of Texas at Dallas,
ISBN13: 978-0-9786742-0-5). Ferguson provides brief descriptions of 95
studies, books and articles on Chess & Education and another 56 on Chess,
Memory & Cognition.
RECOMMENDED
BOOKS & ARTICLES 47
Aghuzumtsyan, Ruben and Poghosyan, Sona (2014) The impact of
chess lessons on formation and development of the students. It is
available at http://www.iccs.chessacademy.am/
Barber, Dewain ed. (2017) A Guide to Scholastic Chess 11th edition (
free download from
http://the80-20td.com/11thEditionGuideToScholasticChess-7-4-17.
pdf )
Caramia, Javier et al. (2016) Estrategia y Táctica del Ajedrez Escolar.
Ediciones Ventajedrez. Materials to help class teachers.
Healy, John (1988) The Grass Arena. Penguin Modern Classics.
Autobiographical account of how chess brought an alcoholic
prisoner back into society.
Jaureguiberry, Juan Luis (2012) Jaque a las fracciones. Editorial
Municipal de Rosario. Using chess to make mathematics
understandable and fun.
Moreno, Fernando (2002) Teaching Life Skills Through Chess. A
guide for educators and counsellors.
Nash, Damian (2011), Making Chess Attractive to Educators in the
Classroom, A New Approach To Curriculum. Koltanowski
Conference, Dallas 2011. A curriculum model that can be used to
teach higher order thinking skills directly.
 RECOMMENDED
48 BOOKS & ARTICLES
Noir, Michel (2002), Le Développement des habiletés cognitives de l'enfant par
la pratique du jeu d'échecs. Noir's doctoral thesis (University of Lyon). An
important source for background, information and research in French.

Portman, Carl (2017), Chess Behind Bars. Quality Chess. A guide to chess in
prisons.

Root, Alexey W. (2006), Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators. One of the
first books to show the connection between accepted educational theories and
chess. It includes lesson plans teachers can use, and from which they can learn
the basics of the game. Since the plans meet academic goals through chess,
teachers also learn that chess can be a part of reading, mathematics, science
and social studies. See also:

Root (2008) Science, Math, Checkmate - 32 Chess Activities for inquiry and
problem solving.
Root (2009) Read, Write, Checkmate - Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities.
Root (2010) People, Places, Checkmates - Teaching Social Studies with Chess.
Root (2011) The Living Chess Game - Fine Arts Activities for Kids 9-14.
Root (2012) Thinking with Chess - Teaching Children Ages 5-14.

Sukhin, Igor (2010-2012) Chess Camp (7 volumes) Mongoose

Press. 600 or so simple drills in each volume.
 “Learning is a lifelong experience”
Dr Karan Singh
Indian Ambassador to UNESCO
Chancellor of NIIT University

Address to NIIT University, 12 November

2011, where he insisted that the concept
of "world as one family" is the only way
to go forward, which echoes FIDE's
motto of Gens Una Sumus.

“It always seems

impossible,
until it is done.”
H.E. Nelson Mandela
 This
booklet can be
downloaded in
electronic format from
cis.fide.com - in
English, French
or Spanish.

FIDE Secretariat

Phone: +30 210-921 20 47
Fax: +30 210-921 28 59

www.fide.com
e-mail: office@fide.com

9 Siggrou Avenue,
Athens, Greece 11743