Clatskanie chess

Chess takes hold in Clatskanie
Sunday, April 13, 2008 1:06 AM PDT
By Stephanie Mathieu

CLATSKANIE, Ore. – Forget Guitar Hero or MySpace. There’s something unexpectedly old-school gripping the attention of kids in this small town: Chess.

The Clatskanie Chess Club is one of the largest in Oregon, its members estimate. The highly strategic board game is taught to second- and third-graders in the city’s public schools, and club leader Kate Taylor said roughly 600 out of Clatskanie’s 1,000 students now play chess.

Taylor and her son Michael, whom she home schooled, have organized funding, brought the game into the schools, staged clever tournaments and engaged the whole town in a classic, mentally challenging activity.

In fact, 22 of the 200 finalists for the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation State Championship in Seaside on Saturday – more than 10 percent of all the players who squared off – are students from Clatskanie. And one of those competitors is 7 years old.

“This is one of the best things that has happened to Clatskanie,” said Melody Skirvin, mother of two children in the club.

Learning the game helps students’ math skills, teaches them how to be good sports and is a inexpensive hobby that children of all ages and income levels can play, Skirvin said. “It builds up their self-esteem and their confidence.”

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