Chess boost at Harrisburg school

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Donation of 20 sets boosts chess at Harrisburg school
Dalton Walker • December 23, 2008

With the help of a generous donation, Harrisburg Journey Elementary School will form a chess club next month.

Sioux Falls City Council member De Knudson recently donated chess sets to the school to aid its effort to form the club.

Chess club registration forms will be sent home with students early next month, Journey Principal John Snobeck said. The club is scheduled to start Jan. 21.

“We think it’s a great program for kids,” he said. “Explorer did it the last three years. They get good participation. There is no reason Journey shouldn’t start one, too.”

Like Explorer, the club at Journey plans to meet once a week. Explorer’s club meets after school on Thursdays. More than 30 kids take part there.

Journey’s club plans to meet Wednesday after school for 45 minutes.

Knudson donated 20 chess sets, Snobeck said. She also donated chess sets to Explorer a few years back, he said.

Liberty, Harrisburg’s third elementary, does not have a chess club.

Parent James Hulscher was recruited by Snobeck to help organize Journey’s new chess club. His son, Hunter, attends the school.

Hulscher, the owner of a consulting company, has played chess most of his life, he said. He learned the game from his grandfather at an early age.

In November, after Hulscher received a new chess set for his birthday, he re-introduced it to Hunter. The youngster caught on quickly, the elder Hulscher said.”

I played chess in grade school all the way up to college, and I loved it,” he said.

“I tried with Hunter two or three years ago and he didn’t really get it. I tried again and he picked up on it this time. Now he likes it.”

The club hopes to recruit at least 40 students to play on the 20 sets. If more show interest, a lottery of some sort will decide which students take part, Snobeck said.

“Chess is a great thinking game, a strategy game,” he said. “It has a lot of benefits to it. Overall, it’s just going to be a lot of fun.”

Source: http://www.argusleader.com