• Most kids like chess because it's fun and challenging.
• Rambunctious children learn to settle down at the chess board.
• Students with short attention spans develop focus on the challenges in the game.

Chess is beneficial as an innovative tool for children's educational advancement, growth and development.

• Several studies have shown that students who play chess as a school-related activity consistently score appreciably higher on intelligence tests than non-chess students.
• More than 15 universities, such as UMBC, offer full and partial scholarships to chess players.
• In chess and in life you have to think critically about your actions...where they lead and what the consequences are. This is an important skill for success in life whether your child attends college or not.

Chess enhances important critical thinking skills necessary for success in Math and Reading.

• The same skills required to play a good game of chess arerequired todo well in the classical school subjects, trial and error, hypothesizing, deducing, logical reasoning, and judgement.
• It was found that learning chess had a positive influence on the development of both numerical and verbal aptitudes.
• Very often this translates into better grades in math and reading.
• Many students have to pass standardized test (e.g., Maryland Functional) in order to graduate high school. Chess helps hone critical thinking skills necessary to excell on such tests.
• Planning ahead, problem-solving, follow-through, and visualizations skills are all essential to chess. Over time, with chess, you can watch your child acquire these skills.

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Opportunties

As a participant in Math Empowerment through Championship Chess (METCC) students throughout the Washington metropolitan area are provided the following opportunities:

• Championship chess classes taught by some of the top players in the country.
• Participation in local and national chess tournaments.
• Membership in the National Chess Federation.
• Increase self confidence and self esteem.
• Opportunity to earn scholarships to college.
• Opportunity to be a world chess champion.

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