Why playing chess can reduce schoolyard fights

Shine article

Australia’s largest chess organisation, Chess Kids, recently surveyed over 200 of the many schools that participate in its coaching programs and tournaments. The study predictably found that many ‘hard’ benefits result from students playing the ancient strategy game – problemsolving skills, improved concentration, and so on – but with that finding came a surprise. 

Over 98 per cent of schools also reported a range of ‘soft’ or behavioural benefits too – better anger management being high among them. 

The irony is fantastic: get kids thinking about battlefield tactics, and less violence can be the result.

“Many children benefit from the rigid routines of chess,” says Robyn English, whose chess club at Boroondara Park Primary is fast becoming too big to manage. “You can play the whole game by staring at the board. There’s no need for eye contact with the opponent. Today’s violence is about bashings and drugs and thuggery, but chess is about removing pieces from the board respectfully, not smashing them down or verbally abusing the opponent.”

Yvonne Reed, who presides over an increasingly popular chess club at Kingsley Park Primary School, says the game’s cerebral challenges simply don’t leave much room for emotions. “The calmness and concentration required quiet the temper,” she muses. “I have often witnessed children with behavioural problems playing chess in an engaging manner.”

For the founder of Chess Kids, David Cordover, this was no surprise at all. 

“Chess is competitive and war-like, which can appeal to some boys," he said. "But the fact that kids can take out their aggressive tendencies in a positive way is great. They get to see the results of violence – their pieces die too; they sometimes lose. And they also get the feeling of winning and losing and have to deal with that. They start to see the other person’s perspective.”

Also important for Mr Cordover is the fact that the ‘violence’ in chess is governed by very strict rules. 

“Certain rules can’t be broken; while others, like strategic rules, can be broken and then you see the results,” he says. “This reinforces the idea that we have laws in society which can’t be broken and rules that should be followed for the benefit of all. But within that system of rules you have plenty of freedom and ability to be creative.”

Overseas, efforts are even being made to make chess part of the curriculum. 

As Jamaica’s Chess Federation President puts it, “one of the beautiful things about playing chess is that it gives you such focus and such discipline. From my experience, a lot of people who act violently are people who can’t reason well, and therefore they turn to brute force as a way of compensating.”

But in the era of video games, YouTube and two-minute attention spans, can we get kids to concentrate on learning chess in the first place? 

For Mr Cordover, that’s a moot point. 

“It’s the easiest thing in the world,” he says. “Chess is a naturally interesting game. It wouldn’t have survived so long if it wasn’t enjoyable!”

More information

This article was written in the November issue of Shine magazine and can be found on page 19. To read more articles, see: Shine