Many check mates for principal
Dirk Winnie has had to get used losing to 10-year-olds.
As the principal at Avalon School, he has encouraged the school’s chess club and believes it is a game that has a range of educational benefits.
Last year, the decile two Lower Hutt school attended the nationals and came a creditable fifth.
Winnie said chess had many advantages but the most important was the way it engaged students.
The club had about 35 members and was growing.
Benefits included learning strategy, how to lose gracefully and improving mathematical skills, he said.
Older students also taught the youngsters how to play and it was nice to see the way they interacted.
Chess was also very cheap to play and in a decile two school that was a real advantage.
It was the way the game attracted children who might not otherwise be fully engaged in the school that Winnie believed made chess special.
‘‘Chess absolutely has benefits. ‘‘It gives kids the chance to be successful who might otherwise not get any recognition.’’
Although he does not regard himself as a top player, Winnie has always enjoyed chess and regularly takes on his students.
Once they grasped the game, it was amazing how quickly they improved and could beat him, he said.
Although there were more boys than girls, one player quickly going up the ranks was 11-year-old Sanomiya Sathhasivam. It took her two weeks to pick up the game and she had begun beating the school’s best.
For her the appeal of the game was simple. ‘‘I like challenges where I can use my brain.’’
One person who does not need any convincing of the benefits of chess is Scott Savidge from Chess Power.
The franchise has run successfully in Auckland for many years and recently arrived in Wellington.
It coaches and runs tournaments, which the school pays a fee for.
Savidge said that in Wellington he was on the lookout for businesses willing to sponsor chess in schools that would otherwise struggle.
Chess had many educational benefits and was also a great leveller. Children learned how to concentrate, as well as good sportsmanship, he said.
‘‘I love the fact that before each game, you shake your opponent’s hand,’’ Savidge said.
Dave Calder, a teacher at Wellington College, runs a chess club for about 70 pupils and said the positives were obvious.
‘‘Some kids are so afraid of failure, they never put their hand up to do anything but with chess they learn they have to lose before they can learn how to win.’’
Learning to lose was important, Calder said, for a generation of children who play online games where they never lose.