The golden age of chess in schools, in my opinion, was the quarter century or so between about 1955 and 1980, when the game was very popular among secondary school boys, but unfortunately not as many girls.
I have many friends and colleagues who developed a fascination with chess at secondary school during those years, and for whom it became a lifelong passion. Now in their 60s, 70s or even 80s, they’re still involved as players, organisers, teachers, writers, historians, sharing their knowledge and enjoyment of this wonderful game with younger generations.
By and large they weren’t academic high-flyers, nor did they come from chess-playing backgrounds. Several of them failed the 11-plus, but they were still able to utilise their cognitive skills to excel at chess.
Every one of them would tell you, just as I would, how chess transformed their lives.
In about 1980 something happened. Chess changed from being seen as a secondary school activity and instead became associated with primary schools. There were societal reasons for this but, in my opinion, it did both chess and children a disservice.
Although it is easy for most children to learn how the pieces move at a relatively early age, unless they are playing and studying chess intensively at home, they make little progress.
Playing a good game of chess requires a complex mix of higher-level cognitive skills as well as the ability to teach yourself and learn from your mistakes.
It also has an aesthetic value, an extensive literature, and an extraordinary heritage which can be much better appreciated by older children and adults than by younger children.
I think it is time we reclaimed chess as a game for older children: most younger children will, to be honest, gain more benefit from playing simpler games. And, with an enormous amount of instructional material available online, much of it free, along with websites where you can play chess whenever you want and engines which will analyse your game and help you improve, it has never been easier for secondary schools to promote chess excellence.
My recent book – Chess for Schools – offers a lot of useful advice and resources. My website Spectrum Chess offers a range of free downloadable books along with stationery to help you run a successful school chess club.
Getting started
You could start by running an internal chess tournament in your school. You could run an individual championship if you want, but there are also many reasons why you should want to run team competitions.
You could stage matches between forms, between year groups, between pupils and teachers or whatever you want. If your school has a mixed intake you might want to encourage more girls to take part by making each team 50% boys and 50% girls.
Put up a suitable prize for the winning team. Chess may be a game of one-to-one combat, but by running team events in this way you are promoting cooperation as well as competition.
Email a copy of the rules of chess (there’s a free download on my website) to all parents. Put some posters up around the school promoting chess as well. The matches could take place at lunchtime in a common area where they will attract spectators (silence will be required) and generate more interest.
Contact other schools in your area and propose after-school matches. Set up a local league if you want.
A website I’d recommend is Lichess.org. It is a free, open-source site with millions of members from all over the world (more than 100,000 logged on as I write), and it also has a lot of free online tutorials, the option to solve puzzles regularly – a great way of improving your chess – and study openings.
You could set up a private team run by a member of staff with an interest in chess and encourage all interested pupils to join. Through the website you could set up and run weekly internal online tournaments, perhaps at weekends. You could also set up online matches against other schools – which could be anywhere in the world. There is so much else you can do as well – and everything is free.
If you need equipment, training courses for your teachers, or any advice, then Chess in Schools (see further information) will be able to help you. Meanwhile, the English Chess Federation runs annual chess competitions for schools which, if you are serious about chess, you should sign up for.
Another positive step is to contact the nearest adult chess club in your area (again the English Chess Federation will provide details). While not all clubs are equally helpful, there are many ways in which they might be able to support you. Perhaps you could send a team along to play a match against them on their club night.
A larger club will probably be able to field a team of less experienced players who will be able to give you a good match, along with some constructive advice. Perhaps one of their members will be prepared to come along and give a talk about chess or give a display of simultaneous chess against your players.
Chess clubs are usually relatively cheap to join, and most clubs will also have reduced rates for students, but your local club may also be able to offer a special deal for your students.
If you are proactive, if you understand that chess is not just, or even, a game for small children, if you are aware of just how many amazing and often free resources there are out there, you can do so much more than just setting aside a classroom for chess one lunchtime a week.
There are so many reasons why you should take this approach. We are increasingly aware of the number of young people struggling with anxiety and depression. Students should be encouraged to maintain a healthy work/life balance by taking up hobbies which they can pursue over weekends and holidays.
Chess can also be very helpful for many neurodivergent children: young people on the autism spectrum, for example, will sometimes feel very much at home in the world of chess.
Chess isn’t for everyone, and only a few of those who take an interest in chess at school will continue when they leave, but there will be one or two children in any school for whom discovering chess will be, as it was for me 60 years ago, a life-changing experience.
It won’t cost you a lot of money, in fact it might even cost you nothing at all: all you need is an enthusiastic teacher and chess can transform your school.
- Richard James has been teaching and organising chess for children since 1972. Between 1975 and 2006, Richard ran the highly successful Richmond Junior Chess Club, whose members included Luke McShane, Jonathan Rowson and other future grandmasters. He is the author of Chess for Kids and The Right Way to Teach Chess to Kids and has written extensively on chess history and trivia. His latest book – Chess for Schools: From simple strategy games to clubs and competitions – was published in August by Crown House Publishing and costs £16,99. Visit www.crownhouse.co.uk/chess-for-schools
Further information & resources
- Chess in Schools: www.chessinschools.co.uk
- English Chess Federation: www.englishchess.org.uk
- Lichess: https://lichess.org/
- Spectrum Chess: https://spectrumchess.uk/downloads/