Students, teachers face off in matches

Quick games hone chess skills
Students, teachers face off in matches
By Sara Cunningham • scunningham@courier-journal.com • December 1, 2008

While all the usual pieces were there, Evan Buelt and Kevin Heiny, both 16, were not playing a normal game of chess.

In a matter of seconds, the North Oldham High School juniors would move a piece and hit the timer. Their hands, and their black-and-white chess pieces, slid back and forth on the board.

There’s little time for pondering in quick chess. Ten minutes is put on the clock for a game, leaving each player with five minutes for his or her moves.

Next to Evan and Kevin, Michael Watton, 16, North Oldham High teacher Peter Williams was battling it out with another student.

During the three days leading up to Thanksgiving break, North Oldham High School teachers and students were invited to match wits against one another in the school’s first Thanksgiving quick chess tournament. The games were held during the half-hour before regular classes started.

While just a handful of students played in the tournament, chess draws a regular following at area schools. Those who are involved with the game say it offers players a chance to hone skills that reach far beyond the checkmates and stopwatches.

About 200 high school students and about 70 middle school students compete on chess teams tied to Jefferson County Public Schools, said Robert Vinegar, the coordinator of athletics and activities for the school district.

The Kentucky Chess Association offers lessons and holds tournaments to foster love for the game, Vinegar said. School teams often use the association as a resource.

“Like anything else, with chess you train as a team as far as discussing strategy,” Vinegar said. “Then, it also offers that individual competition and the thrill of using your mind against someone else.”

Chess also helps students with critical thinking, discipline, organization and social skills, Vinegar said. While chess is not an activity where players talk to each other a lot, there are formal and informal ways players are supposed to interact before and after they play, he explained. It also helps with social skills as far as sportsmanship, he said.

Evan, who plays in tournaments from time to time, said he enjoys chess for its intellectual qualities.

“It really just helps you to think and analyze more,” he said.

Here is the full article.