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Chess Club-Not for the Nerds Anymore!

March 28th, 2007 at 05:05 pm

Our grade school has a FREE afterschool chess club (as probably does yours or the city rec dept).

I thought it would be 5 or 6 nerdy boys sitting quietly playing seriously.

HA! What a misconception. I volunteered so my 3rd grader would 'decide' to play.

There are at least 20 simultaneous games played at lightenin' speed (10 minutes). Well, a few of the games take longer.

The kicker is I know a few of the kids:
- one of the kids is the 'surfer'
- another is the 'slacker'
- there's alot of girls too

So if you have a need for NO Cost activities, try out the chess club. My kids already knew the basics, and it is a NO Brainer this is better for their brain than sitting around the TV/computer/video game.

4 Responses to “Chess Club-Not for the Nerds Anymore!”

  1. fairy74 Says:
    1175101904

    I tried playing chess once but boy does it require patience (something that I have only a small supply of). DH and his brothers love it! Sounds like a good idea for kids too.

  2. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1175103596

    In some parts of the US and certainly in other parts of the world, chess is not seen as just the province of the nerdy. Everybody plays. When my son was about 10, a group of kids used to play. Well, my son IS the nerd, but he would just stand by and watch, never play. Until one day someone persuaded him. Zip-zap-boom-bam! He played one after another and went through them all. He had gotten a lot of practice with the game just by watching. His Dad's family all plays, but his Dad does not play anymore, and I have never liked chess. Lately I have used our stone chess board as a giant trivet under my tea! But yeah, the kids here liked chess when they were introduced to it before anyone gave them the idea that it was just for nerds.

  3. PauletteGoddard Says:
    1175108740

    Chess is very common and popular in my child's prospective school district cluster.

    Janet Wong wrote a book Alex and the Wednesday Chess Club you might pick up from your local library.

    My tot plays with the 'Pawn' software game on the computer.

  4. mjrube94 Says:
    1175139531

    They start chess in Kindergarten in my district. They run 6-week sessions each Spring and Fall. My daughter (now in 2nd grade) has done every session since Kindergarten, and my son just started this spring. It's been great. It's popular in our area, too, and it's such a great game. Teaches great critical thinking skills.

    If you're looking for something more for your kids, there's a national chess association that runs local tournaments, even for kids. It's fun and friendly.

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