10 year old boy challenges school to embrace chess

The lessons a player learns in chess can be as adaptable to real life as they are to a game, according to 10-year-old Josh Decker.

Josh has learned plenty about moves and strategies since he started playing chess three years ago.

He knows how to strike fast, ending a game in four moves. He also knows how to watch his opponent, observe how he or she plays and plan his own next move accordingly.

Those lessons can not only be applied to chess but to all kinds of situations in life, he said.

“I have tried it since we live with horses and cows,” he said earnestly. “I have tried it with a baby cow. I always think if I run toward them, what will they do? Will she come running at me?”

For Josh, chess is both serious and fun, a challenge and a thrill. His passion for the game is what led him to petition to start a chess club at Blessed Sacrament Huguenot Catholic School around this time last year, when he was a fourth-grader.

Now a fifth-grader, the club is still a passion for him, and he hopes the other members appreciate it just as much.

Full article here.