The many hidden benefits of chess

Highlands Students Find Success with Chess
Student chess players take home more than trophies.
By Ashle Briggs Horton 6:00am

Studies have shown that children who play chess reap benefits in everything from problem solving and memory to self-confidence and creativity. If you ask their parents, the Highlands Elementary chess players are living proof.

John Robinson’s twin sons Jack and Ryan, now 10 years old, have been playing chess since their cousin taught them the game when they were in first grade. By the end of that school year, they would attend their first chess tournament.

Their first foray into the world of competitive chess was a bit of a shock for Robinson.

“I wasn’t prepared for what I was walking into–almost 600 kids from around the state,” Robinson said. “They didn’t do real well but they came back to chess club in the fall and wanted to do more tournaments.”

The chess club he’s referring to is an after-school club run by three Highlands teachers, Mike Seaman, Mark Wallace and David Sponheim.

Highlands Elementary Principal Peter Hodne clarified that while the school has a sizable chess club, the students attend chess tournaments independently with their families. The Highlands chess team is so called because the students all attend Highlands, but it is not technically a school sponsored team.

The chess club, which has grown in popularity over the last few years, is an important part of the story, however.

“The core of this is the three teachers who run the chess club. If it wasn’t for them, this wouldn’t be happening,” Robinson said.

Since they started playing chess, Robinson said the changes in his sons have been noticeable and wide-ranging. He has noticed improvements in test scores, confidence, ability to focus, even sports.

“They’ve started to strategically think,” Robinson said. “They stay calmer. They can react differently … They can deal with disappointment so much better than I could at that age.”

The Robinson twins were quickly hooked on chess tournaments and soon others from the chess club began to compete as well.

One of those students is third-grader Aidan Anselmo. Last winter, Aidan—who has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder—came home from school and told his mother Jeanne Anselmo that he wanted to join Highlands’ chess club. By springtime, he wanted to compete. He took to it quickly, finding success at tournaments and a therapeutic quality in the game, which helps him to stay calm and focused.

Anselmo is quick to say she doesn’t advocate chess as a replacement for medication, nor is chess replacing medication for her son. But she did say that chess does something unique for Aidan and when he plays it, he is focused, he’s “in a zone.” Aidan recognizes this as well.

“Aidan will say, ‘I love to be focused.’ He understands it; he talks a lot about his ADD and what calms him,” Anselmo said.

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