It’s June, 1978. The Philippines are about to bear witness to a clash of titans. Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi, two of the greatest chess champions of all time are set to play for the title of Grandmaster. The stakes are high and the tensions higher. Both teams are on their guard. Korchnoi has brought his own personal chair. Karpov’s team request it be searched, lest Korchnoi try to smuggle in prohibited items. The chair is dismantled and x-rayed. Nothing is found, and the games can commence.
It’s the second match, 25th move. Karpov receives a blueberry yoghurt from his team. He did not request any. Korchnoi’s team protests. They say it could be a code; instructions encrypted by yoghurt colour. Karpov’s team could be instructing him to offer a draw or play more aggressively. It’s all a blueberry flavoured ruse, an underhanded trick to steal the title. The games are stopped and arbitrators brought in. Though Korchnoi’s team later suggest it was only a joke, someone took it seriously. For the remainder of the Championship, Karpov is only allowed a certain flavour of yoghurt, to be delivered at set intervals.
We may laugh at little stories like this (I know I did), however they underlie a more serious issue: Cheating. Advantage gained through dishonest means. It infects all forms of sport, and chess is no exception. Pieces are nudged to more favourable squares; advice is whispered, through phones and codes. Worse still, it taints even the very top of the chess player hierarchy. Gaioz Nigalidze, grandmaster title holder 2014 to 2015, used a smart phone, hidden in a bathroom, to elicit help from the outside world, during the 2015 Dubai open. Sergey Aslanov did something similar in the 2016 Moscow Open. The list goes on, though the story is the same; players resorting to underhanded methods get ahead.
If this is how adults play chess, how can we expect better from developing children? As a Chesslife Coach, I have personally seen (and reprimanded) kids for unsportsmanlike behaviour, some of which has strayed into the realms of cheating. So what is to be done?
The first thing we can do is ask a simple question: why? Why do kids do it? What compels a child to cross the moral boundary? Everything has a reason, and according Dr Elaine K. McEwan-Adkins, children cheat because:
They feel pressured to win, especially in competitions.
They feel unable to win otherwise.
They feel an overriding impulse to win.
They are influenced to cheat by the behaviour of others.
Now we know the main reasons, we need to know what to do when confronted by a child who cheats at chess. Father Val J. Peter believes in the following method:
Step 1 – Get the facts.
Ask the child about their cheating. Ask them what they did and, more importantly, why they did it. It is important to make sure this happens in a calm and controlled environment. Composure is key. Though the child has indeed done something wrong, they must be allowed to explain their actions.
Step 2 – Work with the facts.
Now that the child has given their reason for cheating, it’s time to take action.
Are the children feeling pressured by competitions? Remind them that winning isn’t everything. Celebrate their participation as well as their triumphs. Let them know that losing isn’t the end of the world. Assure them they have the right to lose, but not to cheat.
Do the children feel inadequate, unable to win by other, more honest, means? Just as before, assure them that winning is not the be all and end all. If they want to become better players, help them to do so. Let them join clubs, give them extra lessons and help them improve their game the proper way.
Do they form bad habits, or have an aggressive impulse to win? Teach them the value of honesty and hard work, earning your accomplishments and not taking moral shortcuts. The best lessons come from personal example. Become a positive role model. Children look up to their parents and will follow their example.
The most important thing to remember in all of this is that cheating, while bad, is not unforgivable. Like any other bad behaviour, it has both reason and remedy. While it is disappointing to discover that your child has engaged in cheating, it is more important to understand why, and help the kids improve their conduct. With some hard work and effort, your child will be spared from a life of cheating, lying and tampering with yoghurt.
As children grow up many of them will seek out and participate in competition sport. This is both a natural and healthy development that should be encouraged. Competition sport boosts our self-esteem, improves our confidence and develops our ability to work in a team. Many schools recognise the value of sport and offer their children a variety of sporting opportunities.
Children, however, require guidance. In almost every school and sporting club, there is a team coach, their job being to teach and to train the players in their team. The importance of this position cannot be understated. Children are dependent on their coaches. They look to them for direction and instruction. It is therefore imperative that the coach for your children be the right man or woman for the job, as your child’s experience in sport will be largely influenced, for better or for worse, by their decisions and treatment of their teams.
So, what do you look for when looking for a coach? How do you pick the good coaches from the bad? There are many things to consider. Some of the most important of these have been compiled just below.
Number One: What Is Your Coach Trying To Accomplish?
Each coach has a different coaching method and personal style; no two are exactly the same. Most coaches, however, can be characterized by how they answer this very simple question: How do you define success?
The coaches who would answer that success is defined by their team winning are often referred to as Transactional Coaches.
The most common traits found in a Transactional Coach include:
Making success the prime motivating factor, with their treatment of the players, parents and game reflecting this;
Focusing their efforts in increasing the skill level and performance of individual players;
Making team related decisions based on what will enhance the team’s likelihood of victory; and
Training children to win. How this is achieved is often a secondary concern.
Transactional coaches are often seen as ‘good’ coaches, because they are able to produce visible results, these usually taking the form of success on the field, winning streaks, trophies and medals.
“Each coach has their own personal style”
There is, however, another popular style of coaching, in which the coach does not see winning or even the sport itself as their primary concern. They see sport as a vehicle for children, not simply to have fun, but to also learn invaluable life lessons and skills. For these coaches, it is more important to inspire change in the player and not simply turn them into better players, but also better people. These coaches are referred to as Transformative Coaches.
Wanting their players to improve in all aspects of life, on and off the field;
Offering the team a role model, in him or herself;
Building a team;
Encouraging Teamwork;
Treating players with respect and dignity, regardless of the outcome of a game; and
Teaching life lessons – how to be humble in victory, courteous in defeat and the value of good sportsmanship.
Transformative Coaches have something of a mixed reputation. While they usually share a good rapport with their team and work hard on fostering a positive environment for their players, they do not always deliver the win that is expected of a ‘good’ coach. In fact, many Transformative Coaches downplay the importance of winning, especially in comparison to things like learning, participating and having fun. As such, Transformative Coaches are sometimes considered to be ‘bad’ coaches because their results do not always translate into wins on the field.
Finding out what your coach values is very important. On the surface, the Transactional Coaches seem ideal, because they promise and can deliver obvious results. However, as we shall find, these may not be the results children are looking for, or even need.
Number Two: What Do Your Children Want Out Of Sport?
When coaching children, we must remember why the child is there in the first place. Whatever our feelings towards competition sport, we must remember that this is ultimately about the children themselves. Why do they engage in sport? What do they hope to get out of it?
A study, conducted by George Washington University, sought to answer this very question. A youth soccer group were posed a series of questions about their participation in competition sport. When asked why they decided to engage in sport, 90% responded that they played sport to have fun. This is, however, a very broad term, and the children were further asked to provide explanations of what they considered ‘fun’ to be. They returned with 81 explanations, which were ranked in order of importance.
To these children, simply participating in the sport in a positive and encouraging environment was seen as the best part of a sporting experience. This isn’t to say that children didn’t at all value ‘winning’ or consider it a part of why they play sport. Winning was considered one part of what makes sport fun. The fact was, however, that ‘winning’ was rated at only 48 in terms of importance. Winning medals and trophies was rated at 67 and getting your picture taken was dead last at 81.
From this we can begin to understand that, for children at least, winning, and all that comes with it, is not a priority. Far from it, in fact. A coach needs to understand this and their treatment of the sport and the team needs to reflect this. If a coach is focused on winning, at the expense of things such as participation and a positive playing environment, then they run a serious risk of alienating their players from their sport.
Number Three: Does The Coach Engage Their Team?
Recent studies are showing a worrying trend: that many children will eventually drop out of youth sport programs. By the age of 13, a massive 70% of children will have dropped out of their sporting programs, with the likelihood of dropping out increasing by a third every year the child remains with the sport. So what triggers this sudden disinterest? Studies have suggested that much of this attitude can be attributed to the coach and their practices. When the coach emphasises that winning is the most important thing about sport, it can promote anxiety and depression for children when they fail.
It is important for a coach to treat their team with respect
Remember, only one team can win in competition sport. If the coach is demanding victory from his kids in every game, the pressure to always win can drive children away. Who wants to work, let alone play, in such a demanding environment?
It isn’t just the pressure to win that drives children from sport, but also a lack of playing time. When a coach is interested in fielding the best team they can, they can neglect or exclude the kids with lesser sporting capabilities. The key motivation for children participating in an activity is that they actually enjoy themselves. This doesn’t mean that coaches should abandon rules or scoring. The kids want to play sport! They want to learn it and become better players. But they also want to do it in a positive and inclusive environment that lets them enjoy it.
In the George Washington study, the same children surveyed in what they wanted out of sport were also asked what they wanted out of a coach. Their top five answers were:
Respect and encouragement
Positive role model
Clear, consistent communication
Knowledge of sport
Someone who listens
Take note that, while the children did want a coach that had knowledge of sport, they did not prioritise a coach that would ‘lead them to victory’. If a coach does not encompass these values, they will not engage the children.
A win-obsessed coach will distance and estrange their players from sport. Children may want to win, but it is not a priority. Having fun, being respected and enjoying your time with the team clearly is; and the attitude of the coach needs to reflect that. If a coach does not do this; their attrition rates can be high, with kids missing out on sporting opportunities as a consequence.
Number Four: Win At All Costs. What Is The Real Lesson?
Transactional coaches may put too much pressure on their players to win
Assuming that your child stands by the Transactional Coach, what can they expect to learn from them? The Transactional Coach acts to improve a child’s performance. In return, they expect the child to win games. This ‘win at all cost’ mentality may drive a child to improve their game, but it also promotes harmful behaviour. Dr Kim Taylor found that the coaches who pressure children to succeed can result in children seeking ‘shortcuts’ in order to improve as fast as possible. These shortcuts don’t simply undercut the merits of hard work, patience and perseverance, but they can delve into unethical and self harming practices.
This was the experience of former National Football League defensive lineman, Joe Ehrmann. A victim of multiple Transactional Coaches, he was often pressured into winning, sometimes using unethical practices. One such coach coerced Joe into knocking out an opponent with a basketball. Joe did as he was told and broke the opposing player’s nose. Though Joe felt ashamed of what he did, neither this nor the injury the other player sustained mattered at all to the coach. He boasted that this was the way the game was meant to be played. His team had won. In his eyes, the end had justified the means.
Dr Alan Goldberg has often spoken out against such coaching methods. In one such report, mention was made of a tennis program that was, outwardly at least, highly successful. The team enjoyed a high success rate and the program was considered one of the best in the nation. The coach was driven to making his team the best. He demanded triumph from his team and would become abusive towards his players if they were, in his eyes, ‘uncommitted’. He forced his team to play even when they were injured, unconcerned that this would make their injuries worse. He became verbally abusive if his players lost a game or questioned his conduct. His players were miserable. Many of them abandoned sport altogether. Those who stayed reported suffering from self-directed anger and anxiety. The coach had impressed upon them they had to win. The pressure to meet this unreasonable demand drove his players to their breaking point.
Under these Transactional Coaches, respect, appreciation and esteem were conditional. To be appreciated you had to win. Nothing else mattered. It is hardly surprising that these coaches and their methods lead to high numbers of dissatisfied children, high mental stress and depression. Your children deserve better than this. A Transactional Coach may be able to make your child’s team the winning team, but the price to pay is simply too high.
Number Five: Lessons Above And Beyond The Field
As we can see, the Transactional Coach, while successful on the field, is not the ideal coach for a growing child. Attention to the needs of the child and their personal development as people, not just as players, is essential and a Transactional Coach simply cannot deliver this.
A Transformational Coach is not an easy coach to find, but is well worth the search. While they may not always be able to deliver victory in competition sport, they can do something so much more important – they can teach children how to be healthier and happier people. By providing a positive environment to learn in and a positive role model to learn from, the Transformative Coach inspires and motivates children to not only develop their talents in sport, but to develop as human beings.
The best coaches foster personal growth as well as skill
As a parent, it can be difficult to find the right person for something as important as coaching your child. The important thing to remember is that the skill and quality of a coach should not be measured by their ability to deliver a win on the playing field. As the previous examples have demonstrated, the price to pay for the ‘winning’ coach can be all too high. It is better to aim for a coach who has their priorities on the betterment of their players, on and off the field and regardless of their individual ability. Those are the coaches that truly succeed.
So, what can you do?
Is your child losing interest in sport? Are they becoming less motivated to attend practice and games? Do they want to drop out? While some children will leave sport for alternate reasons, for others it will be because of how their lessons are being coordinated. Ask your child what happens during practice and how the coach treats them. Ask them why they are leaving or becoming less motivated. Attend a few practices yourself. See how the players treat each other and how the coach treats their team. Above all else, avoid judging the quality of a coach by his or her ability to produce a win. A coach centred on improving the child is far more important. Their results last far longer than any sporting season and are more valuable than any trophy.
Some Final Thoughts!
Here at Chesslife, we believe very strongly in the power of Transformative Coaching. We certainly celebrate achievements and train our students how to play their very best game of chess, but our core values go well beyond what a Transactional Coach tries to achieve. We see chess as so much more than a simple game or a distraction. There is so much that chess can teach us; and we consider it a priority that our trainees get everything they can out of our coaching lessons. We do not simply teach children how to play the game or even how to play the game well, but we teach them how to be better people.
Chess is the game that simply keeps on giving. Studies have shown that a steady diet of chess increases your attentive spans, improves your memory and enhances your capacity for logical thinking. Chess truly is a workout for the brain! What, however, can it do for our social lives? If chess can improve how we think, can it play any part in how we interact with one another?
Believe it or not, but one of the many benefits of playing chess is that it enhances our sense of sportsmanship and improves the way we treat one another. This cannot be undervalued; teaching sportsmanship isn’t simply about learning proper manners, but an important life skill, especially for developing minds. Just ask physical educators Christine Nucci and Kim Young-Shim of Indianapolis, who found that a healthy and fulfilling life requires that we find ways to positively interact with the people around us. Sportsmanship, and a good social ethic, helps to guard against the destructive ‘win at all costs’ mentality – which, if left unchecked, can develop into aggressive, antisocial behaviour and habits.
It may seem odd that a game like chess could do anything to promote social development. Chess is a game that is usually played in silence, with a bare minimum of interaction between the players during play. It is, however, these very conventions and demonstrations of etiquette that build a culture of sportsmanship.
Shaking your opponents hand is customary before the start of every game
In chess, respect and integrity are as important as the pieces on the board. We shake with our opponents, before and after the game, regardless of whether the result was favourable or not. All participants, including spectators are silent so that players can concentrate on their individual games. When a game concludes, we are not boastful in victory, nor ungracious in defeat – we treat our opponents with respect at all times.
Ethan concentrating hard during his game
As Douglas Williams of the National-Louise University will tell you, these are formal conventions – and compliance with these conventions along with respectful communication with our opponents, before and after the game, in turn promote good sportsmanship. Even the smallest things, like helping one another set up a board or deciding who will be which side are all positive social interactions that boost our ability to socialise and build us up as social beings.
When looking at other boards, you need to be respectful and quiet.
This is exactly what chess did for me. When I first started playing competition chess for my school, I was only 9 years old. I’m not too proud to admit it, but back then, I was lacking in proper etiquette. If I won – I would happily brag to anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby. As a spectator, I would make unflattering comments about other people’s games – even while they were still playing them! Worst of all, I was bitter in defeat and considered a game lost as nothing more than time wasted. At the beginning of my chess journey, I was an obnoxious player and unpleasant company.
Some behaviour is unacceptable in chess and would surprise players
The good news is that sportsmanship, like any other skill, can be taught, practised and mastered. I played competition chess until I was 17. The more I played, the more I became accustomed to the sensation of winning, losing and simply interacting with other people. With the help of my coaches, chess arbitrators and even my fellow players, I learned not simply how to be a good sport, but the value behind it. I came to realise that a civil game with a pleasant opponent was a far more enjoyable experience than anything I had done previously. I improved my gaming ethic and soon realised that the best part of chess was playing the game, not necessarily winning it – and that better company usually made for better games.
Chess improved me as a person. It taught me the value of sportsmanship and enhanced my ability to socially interact with other people. It taught me that there are more important things than winning and how to treat other people, even opponents, in a positive and civil manner.
If you give it a chance, with practice and patience, chess can teach you how to play a better game and become a better person.
Actually, HuiSi has been with us at Chesslife for over five years, starting her chess journey at the Campbelltown Library where she is now coaching and we are thrilled to have her with us.
HuiSi started playing Chess when she was ten years old. She loved the challenging nature of the game, it’s individuality and the new friends she made (and still continues to make) in her Chess journey.
As you’ll all know, the Chess Club at Campbelltown library has grown from strength to strength. There are always new people joining, new teams being built and more people to compete against. Hui Si still loves playing Chess at Campbelltown and will be part of the secondary team in the Inter school Chess Competition.
“The real highlight was being part of a team for the first time. It made me realise that chess could be a team game, rather than an individual game.”
HuiSi loves to play chess and learn something new every time she plays. She loves the atmosphere and the competitive edge at the chess club, but points out that
“…at Campbelltown it is a very welcoming and friendly environment where people can learn .”
HuiSi is looking forward to helping the younger members of the Campbelltown Chess Club to learn the basics of Chess.
“It’s great to see so many children start chess at such a young age and to be able to help them at the start of their chess journey and see their progress is very exciting.”
Chess is arguably the oldest game still played globally today. And it’s changing more rapidly than ever before. Chess has evolved for thousands of years from early Indian variants, to the modernized strategies of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries respectively. But chess is not done. In fact, it’s still changing – thanks to computers.
For several decades, computers have exceeded human players in skill due to their incredible calculating ability. The age-old question posed to chess players amateur and professional alike, ‘how many moves can you see ahead?’, can now be answered with reference to the power of your chess engine.
But even computers haven’t ‘solved’ chess yet, with its variations of possible positions extending into the billions (fun fact: there are more variations in a chess game than the number of galaxies). And their ‘brute force’ approach of looking at every single move and every single move in response to that and so on stands in stark contrast to the strategies employed and advocated by most coaches. Coaches and top players alike believe in assessing the position and making calculations, using only a few logical looking moves conjured from experience and intuition. Simply put, we don’t have the ‘engine’ power to calculate if pawn h3 is a good or not move every single game.
But the power of the computer cannot be denied, even if it’s not always logical. A computer is a tool that has ushered in a new era of chess, the computer era, where preparation before the game aided by your infallible digital coach (Stockfish or Komodo or Fritz etc) is increasingly important.
Magnus Carslen, current World Chess Champion, has admitted that the rise of computers has ‘take[n] a bit of the mysticism away. But… we’ve known for a long time that computers are better, so the computer never has been an opponent. It’s a tool to help me analyze and to help me improve at chess.”
For younger players just coming into chess, this increasing dependence on computers is less important in their early years. The reliance on computers should never be allowed to replace the multi-faceted role of a chess coach. A computer will never tell you why a certain move is good or bad (because it doesn’t really ‘know’), and won’t tell you what openings, endings or middle game strategies to practice. And of course, as most parents know, a computer cannot instill practices of good sportspersonship or confidence, either.
Nevertheless, chess computers can provide valuable educational, social and recreational benefits for those who care about bettering their game. Interestingly, man and computer have become one in the app ‘Play Magnus’. Players all over the world can test themselves against a virtual version of the Norwegian world champion Magnus Carlsen at various stages of his chess career, as early as 8 (quite easy to beat), and up to his twenties (for the majority of humans, impossible).
The computer has seen chess change in other ways too, perhaps most importantly the introduction of online competitions. Playing online on websites like Chess.com can be a light afternoon of fun, or for more serious players, a chance to cut their teeth and test out new moves and variations.
Former Australian chess champion, Guy West, has commented on the rise of the internet as a tool of the next generation of chess players, saying, ‘In the part, the advantage of experience has been greater because experienced players would have travelled around the world. Nowadays you can travel around the world via the internet.’
The internet is also a valuable tool when considering the abundance of resources out there, available for free for anyone who cares to listen and has an active connection. Young players are getting world class coaching from contemporary greats like Yasser Seirawan, Daniel King and Roger Svidler, who go through games or play ‘live’ blitz to an enthralled audience.
Chess is a global community and the use of computers and online gaming is only strengthening chess into the 21st century’s global game. On one website, Chess.com, they have reached over 15 million members (more than half of Australia’s population). So what does this mean for budding chess enthusiasts? Well, it means there’s never been a better time in history to get involved in the sport of chess!
Many people enjoying the game of chess at TATA Steel Tournament in the Netherlands
For some of us, sitting down over a chess board of an evening just isn’t enough. We need to fill our bookshelves with chess books, our walls with chess art and our Netflix queue with… you guessed it: chess films. We are excited to share our recommendations of the best chess content out there. And who knows, it may even improve your play.
Movies
Searching For Bobby Fischer
A classic chess film, that has been inspiring young chess players for years since its release in 1993. The film focusses on Joshua Waitzkin navigating the world of children’s chess tournaments in the years after Bobby Fischer has retreated from the world. The story is clever and something to watch with the family, with seasoned chess players getting a kick out of famous player cameos like Anjelina Belakovskaia, Joel Benjamin and the real Joshua Waitzkin.
Pawn Sacrifice
A recent addition to the back catalogue of chess films, Pawn Sacrifice focusses on Bobby Fischer’s match against Boris Spassky in Reykjavik in 1972. Tobey Maguire rises to the challenge of portraying Fischer’s paranoia and the film shows a realistic snapshot of the way Fischer and Spassky’s matches were being watched keenly by the world.
Queen of Katwa
Released last year by Disney, Queen of Katwa is a biographical film focussing on Ugandan player Phiona Mutesi. Mutesi lived in a slum before learning to play chess and eventually became a Woman Candidate Master after playing at the World Chess Olympiads. The film is inspiring, yet impressive in that it doesn’t shy away from the realities and hardships of Mutesi’s life.
Books
The Queen’s Gambit
A novel by Walter Tevis, this book tells the story of Beth Harmon, a young girl who finds herself in an orphanage at the age of eight. She soon falls in love with playing chess, and goes on to compete in tournaments successfully. However, both chess and her substance abuse pull her in two different directions. Which one will she choose?
The Luzhin Defense
A chilling novel by master prose writer, Nabokov, The Luzhin Defense is about a chess prodigy who takes his love of the sport and competing too far. Not only does this book have oodles of literary merit, it has hidden gems throughout for chess players. An added bonus, you can share this with friends and family who may not (yet) be addicted to chess.
A Chess Story
For those of us who are short on free time, Steven Zweig’s novella A Chess Story is the perfect chess-fix coming in at under 100 pages. Follow the main character as he observes a chess prodigy unravel onboard a ship sailing to the US.
Art
Soldier at a Game of Chess
Chess seems to influence all artists, whether through books or film. This holds true of painters as well! Jean Metzinger, a French artist, painted this while serving as a orderly during World War I.
The Chess Game
Have you ever noticed that once you start to fall in love with something, whether it is art or music, you start to see it everywhere? Well, this game captured by Italian renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola looks, at least to us, like a Chesslife lesson. Although we have never seen David in a gown like this!
That’s enough chess for a day. Did we miss any of your favourites? Let us know by posting on our Facebook page!
The most rewarding part of my job as a chess coach is seeing my students improve in so many ways, which I truly believe can be traced back to playing and learning chess.
One of the reasons I’m so confident that chess is ‘good’ for kids is that it brings in so many different parts of the brain. To truly ‘play’ chess, the brain has to work pretty hard (to put it mildly), and the best thing is that kids often don’t even realise how much they’re learning.
Not only does chess require kids to be creative, logical, solve problems and think spatially, but when they come to Chesslife classes, they also to have to be social, concentrate, and participate by reading, writing, counting, reasoning – and then communicating all of this to their fellow students and their coaches.
It’s no wonder chess has the power to transform young (and old!) lives. But don’t just take it from me. Here’s what researchers William Bart and Michael Atherton of the University of Minnesota discovered when they analysed the brains of amateur and professional chess players at work. This is from their paper ‘The Neuroscientific Basis of Chess Playing’.
Playing chess activates the occipital lobe, which is used for visual processing
Playing chess activates the parietal lobe, which is used for attentional control and spatial orientation
Playing chess at an amateur level activates the medial temporal love and the hippocampus, which are used for novel encoding and analysing chess board information
Expert chess players use their frontal lobes for higher-order reasoning and retrieving expert memory chunks.
In the right setting, chess has been proven to boost visual processing, concentration and attentional control, encoding of information (understanding), analysing information, reasoning and memory.
And the science proves shows what every chess coach and indeed, every chess player, already knows: chess is a workout for the whole brain.
As a Chesslife coach I consider it my responsibility and my greatest privilege to bring this incredible tool to the bright young minds of Australia.
We’ve known for a while (and have certainly been writing about it at Chesslife) that chess is great for our brain, but we often don’t speak about the way chess has changed the world for the better. In terms of politics, human rights and global relations, chess has kept the world moving forward.
While his chess career peaked over forty years ago, Bobby Fischer’s influence on America is still felt today. He was the first American to bring chess to the forefront of the country’s mind, and to show that the US could compete on the grand stage with Russia.
Bobby Fischer
Stephen L. Carter wrote of the atmosphere of the historic time in 1972 when Fischer player Spassky. ‘The two best players in the world were playing 24 games in Iceland, and everyone paid attention. Strangers who had never picked up a chess piece discussed the match on subway trains. Newspapers put out special editions announcing the results of the games, and vendors hawked them from the corners, shouting out the name of the winner.’
Recent Disney movie and biopic, Queen of Katwe is all about the power of chess and the people who play it. All about the life of Ugandan girl Phiona Mutesi, the film shows her journey from living in a slum in Katwe to becoming a Woman Candidate Master and playing at the World Chess Olympiad. Mutesi has gone down in history as one of the first titled woman Ugandan players.
Phiona hasn’t been the only person in Africa to be inspired by chess. Maurice Ashley, the first African American International GM, will soon be embarking on a professional training tour for 18 weeks to visit Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia. The program, made possible by the Paul Allen Foundation and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, will bring three GMs to Africa to provide structured chess training. The program will touch the lives of over sixty local trainers and an expected 1,500 children.
When we’re talking about chess changing the world, we can’t forget the work of former World Chess Champions who have used their platform to promote chess and help the community around them. Garry Kasparov has created non-profit foundation that advocates chess for kids of all ages, backgrounds and gender. He is also a well-known activist and humanitarian, known for speaking out against Putin. ‘At the end of the day, every dictator, after eliminating all the enemies inside his own country, will look for enemies outside’, he has publically stated. ‘[His] main philosophy is confrontation’.
Kasparov with World Champion Magnus Carlsen
In a conversation with Slate, Kasparov even spoke about Putin in the context of chess: ‘Putin, as with every dictator, hates chess because chess is a strategic game which is 100 percent transparent. I know what are available resources for me and what kind of resources could be mobilized by my opponent…Dictators hate transparency and Putin feels much more comfortable playing a game that I would rather call geopolitical poker.’
Other world champions are no different. Vishy Anand opened his own home in 2015 to feed and house people in the slums who were effected by floods in Chennai, India. For many of those children, they were delighted to learn that the house belonged to a man they had learnt about in school. Judit Polgar, while not a World Champion but known as the best woman chess player in recent history, has worked tirelessly along with her sister, Susan to enhance chess’ image and to encourage young girls to pick up the game.
Judit Polgar
It is definitely true that chess has changed the world, but we think that perhaps it has more to do with the wonderful people playing chess than the game itself. Either way, we are excited to see how chess changes the world in the future.
If you would like to make a difference by playing chess, we would love to have you at the Play Your Peace tournament in Campbelltown, South Australia on Thursday April 6. Entry is $10 and all profits will go towards Women’s Safety Services SA to provide counselling, educational initiatives and activities for children effected by family violence.
Junior chess in South Australia has been steadily growing over the last few years, with more tournaments being hosted and more competition among the junior players. But how are we comparing on a National level? Do SA students have what it takes to play interstate? And when do you know it is time to travel across the country to play in a chess tournament?
We spoke to local player Ethan and his mum about their journey over the last 12 months from when they started travelling interstate and how it has changed his play.
Ethan Retnaraja started playing chess when he was 6 years old and had just started year 1 at school. He very quickly rose through the ranks at his local club. In 2015 he won the Most Improved Player of the year award at the Campbelltown Library and in the same year competed to claim the distinction of Under 9 South Australian State Chess Champion.
He captained his schools team in the Interschool Chess Championship C grade in 2015 followed by becoming Interschool Champions in the B Grade in 2016. While competing in state-wide tournaments boosted his confidence over the board and at school, his parents decided it may be time to play in stronger fields across the state borders.
Ethan as captain for his school team
In 2015 on advice of their coach, they entered in the U1200 category at the Doeberl Cup in Canberra. It was here, he says, he learnt what ‘real chess’ is about. After this tournament, a complete change was seen in Ethan’s play.
In Canberra, Ethan met Australian Champion Bobby Cheng and saw the premier group (international and grandmasters) every day in the main hall. He admired how the top players behaved in competition. They took their time and treated their games seriously. Ethan wanted to do the same.
Ethan’s mum and number one fan Jocelyn Ho saw the change in Ethan first hand. ‘Now,’ she says, ‘His chess skills continue to rise and he is playing more calmly and thoughtfully than ever.’
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Playing around the country does not only provide you with the benefits of being able to play against players you have never met before, it also allows you to experience a different culture, meet new people and explore new sites. Often these trips can be incorporated as part of a little family holiday. As Ethan encountered, it means that junior players are able to interact and observe top players and learn from their example. The whole process of travelling to an interstate tournament can lead to a change in attitude both towards chess as well as personal growth.
If you are thinking about adding an interstate tournament to your calendar, why not have a chat to your local chess coach and see what they think.
There are many tournaments available around the country and getting some advice on which one would be suitable is the best approach to ensure the experience will be a positive one for everyone involved.
Ethan and his school chess team
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Now even when Ethan wins, he goes over his games and tries to see where he could improve. ‘If you win you can improve the spots that were bad,’ he says. He no longer tries to rush his moves, but is slow and steady. He learnt that when you concentrate harder, you succeed. ‘If you’re going really fast you don’t think and you lose.’
A large part of tournament play is representing yourself. ‘In a tournament you’re on your own, you’re an individual,’ Ethan tells us, ‘This tournament is the hardest I’ve ever been in. There’s really tough players that have high rankings.’
Ethan sees a future for himself in chess: ‘Chess is very serious, not just a game. When I’m 12 years old I want to compete at a high level.’ But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t celebrate his wins. At the Australian Junior Chess Championship in January last year (2016), he surpassed his own expectations. ‘I was very nervous because most of the players looked like they were tough. I beat some of them, which felt very good.’ On his latest trip to Brisbane while playing in the Australian Junior Chess Championships, he came fifth in the U10 age category.
Ethan at SA State Championship presentations
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Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales certainly still have the strongest players and of course more juniors participating in each tournament, but South Australian players are slowly coming through the ranks and being noticed on a national level. With SA represented in almost every category in the Australian Junior Chess Championship in 2017, it was clear that the change has come. SA players have what it takes to play interstate and should not shy away from starting to schedule in some ‘chess holidays’.
And the best thing about national tournaments is the community that is being build. Every year, students from around the country meet and socialize. Birthdays are shared and friendships are built. Time in between rounds are spend playing transfer chess or soccer and cricket.
Being part of the Australian Junior Chess community is the most worthwhile experience of playing interstate.
Ethan celebrating his 10th birthday at the Australian Junior Chess Championships surrounded by his friends from around the country
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Ethan’s proudest moment was at the Doeberl Cup. He says, ‘I felt proud because there were only three people from Adelaide including me. My chess coach David thought I was good enough to play interstate which made me more confident playing chess.’
We’re certain that this is only the beginning of Ethan’s wins and love for the game!
Gabriel Cregan was six when he first picked up a chess piece. As a child diagnosed on the autism spectrum, his parents, Joanne and Andrew, had always encouraged him in pursuing activities he loved, like board games.
When they saw a notice at his school for a chess club with Bridgewater-based Company Chesslife, they encouraged him to give it a go. However, because of his anxiety around new situations, Gabriel was hesitant to try it, and only agreed to go when his dad promised to attend the class with him.
While he had a school friend in the class, everything else about it was new. Only his dad’s presence kept his anxiety at bay.
Despite the challenges, Gabriel took to the game very quickly, and was soon thriving. After starting in Term 4, he’d already completed the first book of Chesslife’s Dutch-origin chess curriculum. His father scoured the local library for books on chess, and Gabriel spent the summer holidays with his nose in them.
“He was just spotting things so quickly,” his father Andrew said. “Thriving on the puzzles. You could see he was miles ahead of the kids his own age.”
Gabriel and his dad Andrew
Gabriel lives with Autism Spectrum Disorder, formerly known as Aspergers Syndrome, and has co-morbid anxiety. Because of his autism, Gabriel perceives the world in a more intrusive way than people who are lower on the autism spectrum. His brain reacts intensely to even mundane stimuli, so sounds, lights and touch can be distressing.
He also has trouble dealing with new situations, and has “real anxiety around changes, [and] is very rigid, and easily annoyed and distracted by things,” according to father Andrew.
I talk to Andrew outside the Campbelltown library chess club where Gabriel is now a regular. Gabriel, with his fiery red hair and ‘out-there’ personality, is a particularly recognisable member of the Chesslife class. Andrew describes how even now Gabriel is challenged by his participation in the world’s oldest game.
“Last night we were playing in an individual tournament at the Chess Centre. Gabriel was clearly irritated by the music next door, but it’s good for him to adapt and be challenged,” he said.
Gabriel with chess coach David proudly showing his winnings in the Chess Centre
Gabriel started out playing in the Adelaide Hills school team, then later moved to the Chess Centre in Adelaide. He has now participated in the National Championships twice, finishing in the top 10 in 2014, as well as playing in the Young Masters and the Doeberl Cup at the Australian National University in Canberra.
His results are a testament not only to his natural talent, but to his perseverance in the face of challenging and new situations. At his very first National Championship he defeated the top ranked player in his division.
Gabriel at the National Junior Championships in Canberra in 2015
Gabriel’s confidence has improved as a result of his participation in a sport that is increasingly being recognised for its academic and cognitive benefits.
Andrew describes the first time he noticed the changes taking place in his son, “It was in a chess club in Hahndorf. David asked Gabriel to talk about one of his games in front of the class.” David, Chesslife’s energetic head coach, is also on the autism spectrum and has particular insight into teaching kids with differing abilities a passion for chess.
“Gabriel was excited and engaged. He’d started playing 18 months before that, and going to the Hahndorf club for six months.
“It was something I wasn’t expecting, a pleasure to see,”Andrew said.
Gabriel excitingly participating at the Hahndorf chess club
Andrew has had the chance to see other kids with similar problems to Gabriel benefiting from the hands-on coaching approach taken by Chesslife, including kids who have struggled to make friends, who have been bullied at school and who have struggled academically.
“Suddenly [they’re] interacting with other people.” Andrew says. “Just like Gabriel, and the friendships he’s made. David’s brilliant [at helping kids fit in].”
One of Chesslife’s goals is to provide an inclusive educational service that is not only fun and available to every child, regards of skill or ability, but to cater to the co-morbidities that go along with autism spectrum disorder.
Gabriel’s mother Joanne, who works with families living with disabilities to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme, has said that one of the hardest aspects her son has had to overcome is his anxiety.
“I have heard many parents say that their child’s anxiety, not the Autism Spectrum Disorder is what impacts most on their day-to-day life.”
The Cregans have been delighted at Gabriel’s skill at the game. In an email to me, Gabriel said, “I picked up chess very quickly compared to the other kids at school [and] most of them were older than me.”
For his birthday, his parents arranged an at home chess lesson where Gabriel “focused for an hour and a half, just on chess.”
His mother said, “I loved seeing his eyes light up and just soak up all that he could.”
Gabriel was soon playing in tournaments and while at first he didn’t want to interact with the other children, he now has plenty of connections with other chess players. Gabriel says, “I have made heaps of friends. I like having friends at chess because it means friendship and it feels lovely.”
Game analysis during a tournament
Making friends is only one of the many benefits chess has brought to Gabriel’s life. Only a few years ago, Gabriel was incapable of presenting at show and tell in front of a class of his fellow students, finding the attention “overwhelming”. According to Joanne, he now does so with ease, and it was presenting his chess games at the Campbelltown club that has helped him gain confidence. Gabriel, like many of Chesslife’s students, had little experience with team sports before becoming involved in chess.
According to Gabriel’s counsellor, Mark le Messurier, chess is an “engaging opportunity to build a child’s confidence, relationships [and] develop positive problem solving skills.”
Gabriel now travels over an hour to Campbelltown library to have chess lessons with Chesslife. His mother says, “He gets a lot out of the Campbelltown sessions, it makes for a long evening but it is worth it.”
Gabriel seems to agree; “I find it a great time to learn chess and spend time with my friends.”
