Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 24, 1992 TAG: 9203240352
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: NF1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WENDI GIBSON NEWSFUN WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not around here.
Chess, to some an intimidating game of concentration and brains, is to others "the best board game in the world!"
So says chess player Stephen Linkous of Newport, who, while new to the board game, helps teach others to play in teacher Mary Scott Coffey's classroom at Eastern Elementary School in Pembroke.
Kids also are playing in Tammy Huffman's classroom at Highland Belle Middle School in Lexington. Brock Borroughs, Jessee Wallace, Jonathan Kelly, Danny Fix and Adam Hoke all agree chess is their favorite board game and that it's hard to win. But Adam best summed up the glory of winning: "I like smokin' my dad," he said.
At Garden City Elementary School in Roanoke, Deborah Sprinkle heads up the chess club, where roughly the same number of girls and boys gather weekly for chess lessons and inter-club tournaments.
Chess, a "mental sport," says Sprinkle, isn't as hard as many believe when they first step up to the checkered board.
She didn't know how to play herself until three years ago. And now she has third- through fifth-graders approaching her to be in the club every year, many of them not knowing a king from a queen, a bishop from a knight.
The first of the school year is devoted to teaching beginners the basics of chess, while the advanced kids refine their own strategies to win. By Christmas everyone is playing.
And sometimes the third-grade beginners are beating the fifth-grade pros.
Fifth-grader Ben Sweeney, Garden City's best chess player, has only played for two years. His dad taught him a little and now he takes lessons from Roanoke city's chess instructor, Rich Jackson, and teaches his friends how to play. He even taught one girl his strategy for winning in four moves. Now she uses it against him - and wins.
But Ben never gets sick of chess, even if losing is a part of it. He's won first place in his school's tournaments and hopes to win a trophy at a Roanoke city chess tournament and advance to the regional and state levels where he can compete with kids from other areas.
His sponsor, Sprinkle, says kids enjoy chess because it's fun and easy to learn. She also believes that kids who play chess have an easier time with their schoolwork because they regularly practice such skills as thinking ahead and problem solving.
She also says chess builds self-esteem, especially in younger kids. Its players learn to communicate with their peers through helping each other and making friends.
Even the shyest of kids, like Ben, lose their shyness when they sit down to play and become intent on learning and winning.
But the best thing she can say for kids and chess is that it's a good way to get the whole family involved. Many times she's seen parents come to pick their kids up from the chess club sessions and sit down themselves to play - or learn - or to offer advice on moves.
Wytheville's Jessica Graca likes chess best, however, because it's a "more grown-up game." Several school systems offer chess in their club curriculum. Check with your teacher to see if there is a chess club in your school.
by CNB