Game's popularity pegged to across-the-board appeal
By Sharon A. Heilbrunn
 
November 22, 2008 {dateline; La Mesa, Calif.}
 
 
Step onto a high school campus at lunchtime, and you're likely to see students hanging out and catching up on the latest gossip.
 
At Helix High in La Mesa, however, there's another option. Every day, as many as 100 students pack three classrooms at the charter school to play chess.
 
“It's kids you wouldn't expect,” said teacher Eric Ginsberg. “It's not just Advanced Placement kids. It's the kids who are skateboarders, wrestlers, ESL students.”
 
It started with one chess board.
 
Ginsberg, a longtime chess player, began having matches last year with fellow teacher John Vanderpot, who had just learned the game. Students watched, curious, and as more expressed interest, Ginsberg and Vanderpot purchased a few classroom boards.
 
“Kids just started responding to it,” Ginsberg said. “So we revived our Chess Club. There used to be one in the '90s.”
 
They couldn't purchase chess sets fast enough.
 
“It's pretty phenomenal,” Vanderpot said. “It's been this thing that came out of nowhere and just took over. Kids aren't getting into fights at lunch. They're playing chess.”
 
Pretty soon, Ginsberg and Vanderpot had outfitted every room in the school with at least one chess board. They estimate that they've spent a few thousand dollars in equipment over the past year – all out of their own pockets.
 
Teachers have latched onto the effort, and most encourage students to play a quick game between assignments or lessons.
 
At a recent intergenerational chess tournament at Helix, nearly 150 students tested their tactics against peers and senior citizens in the community.
 
Paul Clayburn, 16, sat at the end of a long table while listening to Plain White T's on his iPod. He focused, concentrating on the pieces, and made his move.
 
“Checkmate,” he said, capturing the king. His opponent groaned.
 
“Chess is a great equalizer,” said Clayburn, a wrestler at Helix. “It's not about how strong or how fast you are. It's all about what you know.”
 
Kayee Lau, 15, learned the game last year in Ginsberg's class. She plays most days at lunch and won the school's first tournament a few months ago.
 
“I've made a lot of friends,” said Lau, who prefers, always, to play the white pieces. “White moves first,” she said. “If you move first, you're the attacker.”
 
In the past decade, chess has been touted as a tool for child development. Studies have indicated that the game strengthens problem-solving skills, encourages creativity and enhances reading, memory, language and math abilities.
 
“Chess has been linked to raising test scores and improving self-esteem,” Vanderpot said. “It's a fascinating game. It's kind of like wrestling with your brain.”
 
The game speaks to every demographic, from at-risk students to those who have trouble understanding English. Teenagers who don't normally run in the same social circles play together, Ginsberg said.
 
“Most people have this stigma that chess is for nerds, or only for smart kids,” he added. “I've seen chess change behaviors. Students find confidence in it when other things are a struggle.”
 
Even members of Helix's playoff-bound football team have gotten into the act.
 
“As a football coach, you often hear a good deal of pre-practice trash-talking amongst the players,” said assistant coach Jason Texler. “The other day before practice, I heard something that shook me down to my core – a group of players were roasting each other on how they schooled one another at chess. The project is working big-time.”

A few too many crap articles linked here - but this one is just so cool.

I agree. He will manage to stumble in to a good one about every 15 tries.
 
 
 
 

make that 1 in 25 tries.