Very worthwhile article about chess and education..... There are additional possibilities, however, which the essay does not cover. For example : ( 1 ) The History of Chess. This subject would focus on India, where the game as we know it originated, although the distant origins might be Sumerian, a civilization known for board games played with various squares and game pieces. From India the game spread to Persia and eventually moved westward and into Europe, where a number of variations were known until some time in the medieval era when the game stabilized into the 'classic' form. Along with the history of chess would go the history of nations and cultures and, more generally, the story of why cultures value games and what qualities different games teach people. ( 2 ) Chess and Politics. This is terra incognito in America, where chess is a minor pastime, but in Europe and elsewhere the game has national implications since many political leaders are chess players, sometimes with considerable reputations in the game. There is also the sense that politics itself is similar to chess, with various political "moves" being similar to moves on a chessboard. Chess federations also have political dimensions and sometimes politics per se impacts on the game --as when Bobby Fischer felt compelled to disobey American law in pursuit of the championship, at one point playing a match in politically neutral Iceland rather than any of the major chess venues you might think would be more logical choices. ( 3 ) The Future of Chess. We all know about the success of Big Blue and the high order skills of computers at the game. But there are other considerations. Fischer once proposed a new variant he called "shuffle chess" in which players arrange a standard set of pieces at their discretion on a standard board. Years before that, however, if I may modestly report a little known fact that so far has had zero impact on the world, I invented a variant called "Napoleon" in which a special board with approximately 3 times as many squares is used and in which each player has 100 points to "spend" in choosing his (or her) army --based on the point values of pieces such that a Queen = 9, a Rook = 5, etc, down to Pawns = 1 point. The pieces can then be arranged any way a player desires. In any case, there are many possibilities for the future of chess, including 3 player and 4 player versions, and forecasting where the game may go in the next 50 years would have its own value and, in the process teach forecasting methods. But, of course, the game is futuristic intrinsically. The player who can see ahead more moves than his or her opponent is almost always the winner. And , of course, there is 3-dimensional chess as conceived by various writers, most notably in a Star Trek episode. ( 4 ) Chess and the Arts. There are the chess pieces themselves, which over the centuries have taken innumerable shapes with many unique designs, but there also is chess as a theme in literature and drama, with a Shakespeare contemporary named Fletcher, having written a play about chess that was an influence on the Bard of Avon. Chess has also been a subject in painting and poetry. This approach would also include use of chess in graphic arts --especially in advertising. ( 5 ) Chess and Neuroscience. Here it is necessary to speculate, but it would seem entirely plausible that chess may modify the brain. Indeed, many games may do so, including poker, Monopoly, and checkers. But chess is unique in the intensity of the game, the high order cognitive skills required for play, and the lifetime devotion of many of the people who play the game. If there is brain modification the question would become one of what these modifications do for people in other areas of life. ------------------------ The final consideration here is whether there can be a Radical Centrist interpretation of chess. Or a Radical Centrist version of the game itself. Perhaps game pieces could be reconfigured such that "pawns" might be thought of as certain kinds of political issues, and depending on the importance of each particular issue, a pawn could only capture to the Left or Right. Multi-point pieces could represent political leaders and be given quirks of those leaders on a game specific basis, for example, the piece representing Newt Gingrich might need to go backward every 4th move. The piece standing in for Senator Mark Warner, say a bishop, might , under certain circumstances suddenly change from black squares to red. And so forth. These ideas are rough and only suggestive, but are offered so that Radical Centrists do not miss a bet in our quest for world domination !!! Billy P - Q4 _________________________________________ Newton's Blog Chess Should Be Required in U.S. Schools Posted by _Alex Berezow_ (http://www.realclearscience.com/blog/author/alex-berezow/2013/04/) at Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:17:36 Rook to B8. Checkmate.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of defeating a worthy opponent in a game of chess: the ultimate battle of the wits. Of course, it's not a feeling I have very often, since I'm not very good at chess. On the other hand, my father is officially an "Expert" and my friend is a "Master." In other words, they are both very, very good. To give an idea of how good, if I was to play 100 games with each of them, I would win precisely zero. Worldwide, chess is still a popular game, but it is treated with particular seriousness in eastern Europe. For instance, the Bulgarian National Olympic Committee has been _lobbying_ (http://www.dw.de/bulgarian-school-puts-chess-on-the-curriculum/a-15495435) for chess to be recognized as an Olympic sport, as has _Kirsan Ilyumzhinov_ (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/crosswords/chess/making-the-case-for-chess-as-an-olympic-sport.html) , the Russian president of the World Chess Federation. In September 2011, _Armenia made chess a required subject_ (http://www.rferl.org/content/armenia_introduces_chess_as_mandatory_school_subject/24333249.html) for all children over the age of 6. (In the DW-TV news clip below, the children are in 2nd grade!) Indeed, the Armenians may be on to something. One recent psychology _study_ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22774429) found that chess was associated with greater "cognitive abilities, coping and problem-solving capacity, and even socioaffective development of children." Of course, because it was a cohort (observational) study, the link could be due to some third factor or the possibility that smart, mature children are more inclined to play chess in the first place. In the above video, the math/chess teacher says, "Chess trains logical thinking. It teaches how to make decisions, trains memory, strengthens will power, motivates children to win and teaches them how to deal with defeat. It's the only school subject that can do all this." That is a very interesting insight. Not only does chess help train the brain, but it also teaches children basic life skills. In our culture, we hand out trophies to winners and losers -- or neglect to keep score at all -- out of some misguided, politically-correct notion that we should never hurt anyone's feelings. But, in Armenia, schools are teaching children reality: Sometimes you lose. That's an important lesson, and it should be taught at a young age. What makes chess so fascinating is that no two games will ever play out the same. Checkers -- really a game for intellectual wimps (like me) -- has 500 billion billion possible positions, and in 2007, researchers reported that a _computer has solved the game_ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17641166) . (If neither side makes a mistake, the outcome is always a draw.) But chess is far more complicated than checkers. It is unlikely that a computer will ever "solve" the game. Americans are concerned that our children aren't receiving a solid K-12 education. Perhaps chess should be introduced into the curriculum as a fun way to teach logic and memory? In fact, I should get back to practicing the game. Knowing that there are 7-year-old Armenians that could run me off the chessboard without breaking a sweat is a tad humiliating. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
