Teaching chess to rookies

OU students teach elementary chess to rookies
2/22/2011 9:34:00 PM

Rosie Haney • For The Post •

Two years ago, playing chess was something fourth-grade student Cirus Stowe did only at home. Now he, his friend Tate Held and about 25 other students at West Elementary play every Wednesday after school.

“I thought of it, then I told (Tate), and he was like, ‘Sweet,'” Stowe said.

Stowe and Held started the chess club this year, and the persuasion of pawns and queens has taken hold at the school.

When the two fourth-grade students had the idea, they were given the support of not only the teachers and their parents, but also the Ohio University Chess Club.

Richard Buckalew, a doctoral student studying mathematics and member of OU’s chess club, is one of the 5 OU students who regularly volunteer at West Elementary every week to teach chess to the youngsters.

“I do it because I like chess,” said Buckalew. He added that when he was doing his undergraduate work at Texas Tech, the chess club there was very involved in teaching elementary students how to play.

When OU’s chess club was contacted to see if they wanted to run a similar program here, Buckalew was excited to volunteer.

“I didn’t have the time to volunteer when I went to Texas Tech, and I always felt a little guilty,” Buckalew said.

Using sheets of game layouts, the volunteers illustrate different situations for the students to figure out. When the group is done discussing games and strategy, they usually break off into “free play” where the students challenge each other.

“It’s hard to find the balance between instruction and fun,” Buckalew said. “They have a lot of energy; the challenge is channeling it.”

Stowe and Held said that when they had the idea to start the club, they put flyers throughout the school and had a bake sale to raise money for boards.

Now the club has grown to include third-grade students and has five championship, green and white, regulation boards.

“We didn’t want it to be really wild, but we decided to let a few people from the third grade join,” Stowe said.

As the chess club at West Elementary continues to grow, Buckalew said he hopes the program can continue to expand, eventually interacting with chess clubs at other schools.

Stowe and Held both agreed that the OU Chess Club is a “big help” and seem thankful for the extra instruction.

“I’m sure they could be doing other things like partying,” Stowe said. “But they decided to come to chess club.”

Source: http://thepost.ohiou.edu