Chess and Education

Chess is one of the games which can contribute immensely for the education of the children.

Like many games, Chess is also a very popular game played by millions of people worldwide. The interesting aspect of Chess is that it increases critical thinking skills of the players as well as those who take interest in witnessing the game. Simply Chess denotes situations in which humans can practice to take unusually sound decisions. There are plenty of examples even from Sri Lanka to prove that those who took Chess as part of their lives enjoy a comfortable happy life pattern as they possess important analytical thinkingskills.

The game of Chess is very popular in the world with nearly 200 countries taking the membership of the World Chess Federation.One hundred and eighty countries played in the last Chess Olympiad being only second to the Olympics in the number of participating countries.

Chess has been played by many throughout the world for the last two thousand five hundred years. It is believed that Chess originated in India and migrated to Europe via Persia through the traders. Chess is considered as a Royal Game since it is designed in a manner of a war between two forces lead by Kings. The Chess board is a square which contains 64 smaller squares in alternative light and dark colors.

Chess is very popular in Sri Lanka, especially among school children. It is estimated that around 50,000 school children play chess in Sri Lanka at the school level. Our current National chess champion, FIDE Master Minul Doluweera and the current Women’s National Chess champion Women Candidate Master SayuniGihansaJayaweera are school children in the age of 17 years.