State grant helps build chess programs at schools

The Finleys are two of 57 students enrolled in a summer chess program at Crossland High School in Temple Hills, one of 37 schools in Maryland – and the only one in the county – to receive state funds for programs that teach chess. The state Department of Education is doling out $255,000 for the Chess in Maryland Schools initiative, which will give up to $10,000 to each school program.

Education officials said chess improves children’s critical and analytical thinking, social skills through interaction with competitors and instructors, and reading skills since the most avid students have been found to read up on chess strategy.

‘‘The same skills you use to play chess are the same skills used throughout academia,” said state Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Dist. 25) of Forestville, who helped secure the funding for the chess initiative. ‘‘You take your mind off everything else and you just focus for two or three hours, and that can [be helpful for children].”

Grant recipients will be required to start a program for at least 20 students, and programs will be subject to a state evaluation. Parent interaction must be incorporated into the classes. Programs will be conducted by volunteers, nonprofits, community-based organizations or individual schools, and will be held before or after school hours or during the summer. The classes are free.

The grant funds can be used to purchase curriculum and supplies, hire and train volunteers, and pay the costs of taking students to chess tournaments across Maryland.

The Crossland High class, which just began this summer, is the only grant recipient currently operating. Other programs are anticipated to kick off this fall.

The Finleys and their classmates at the six-week class played chess as state schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick, county schools Superintendent John Deasy and Currie, who was a principal at several Prince George’s schools over a 20-year career, chatted with students and announced the start of the chess initiative.

Currie, an avid chess player for 30 years, requested the chess grant program in the state’s fiscal 2008 supplemental budget. School officials joined the longtime senator in lauding the educational benefits of chess.

‘‘I think it teaches you how to compete in a very healthy way,” Grasmick said as a handful of students eyed their next move or continued with their intense matches. ‘‘[Chess] is very transferable to academic excellence.”

Debra Sturdivant, who helps conduct the Crossland chess program, said the game’s popularity was immediately apparent. The class, which originally only had 30 children signed up, expanded to almost 60 in the first couple weeks of the program. The class is for children ages 7 to 18

‘‘It was just through word of mouth,” Sturdivant said. ‘‘It caught on like wildfire because kids have a genuine desire to learn and to win.”

The instructor of the Crossland chess program, Ted Fagan, said a short-term goal for Prince George’s chess enthusiasts would be to start a program at every elementary school.

He said understanding the game has boosted students’ self esteem this summer.

‘‘Chess is considered a game smart people play,” said Fagan, a Forestville resident who teaches chess at county libraries. ‘‘So when kids learn to play it, they have this enhanced view of themselves.”

Thinking three or four moves ahead, Fagan said, would help students consider the consequences of everyday choices.

Natalie Finley, 11, who focused on her chess pieces, ignoring the newspaper photographers and TV cameramen circling around her, said the demands of a worthy opponent require full concentration – something that would come in handy on an exam.

‘‘It gets stressful in chess, and you really need to focus under pressure,” Finley said. ‘‘This helps my thinking skills. ... It’ll be easier to think when things get tough on a test.”

E-mail Dennis Carter at dcarter@gazette.net.