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Keeping things in check: Chess camp teaches kids life skills
Posted on Wed, July 16th, 2008
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Shaune Sundown, 11, is simply hoping to survive.
His black knight is his only piece on the chessboard and his opponent, Keeshma Singh, 9, is on the attack.
She has only one piece on the board as well — a queen.
Sundown knows he can’t win, but his goal is to keep Singh from taking his knight in fewer than six moves.
Sundown and Singh aren’t engaged in a real chess match. Rather, they’re engaged in an exercise created by Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, who brought his unique brand of chess to Proctors last week for the first MATCH Chess camp.
Where the usual summer camp has kids fishing, swimming and playing kickball, the 27 campers at Proctors spent long afternoons considering the moves of pawns, bishops and rooks.
The players, ages 8 to 14, display varying levels of skill. Some are beginners, and some, like Singh, have won trophies in local and regional tournaments.
Singh and 19 other campers were awarded a full-tuition scholarship to the camp, which costs $420.
Private contributors the Golub Corporation, the Schenectady Police Athletic League, the City Mission and others donated scholarship funds.
The City Mission provides lunches to campers.
Ashley, who’s coached three national championship chess teams and one individual national champion in New York City, says he hopes the camp will bring a general interest in chess to Schenectady. He says the value of chess goes far beyond the game’s rules.
“I want chess to be used for other reasons. It teaches critical thinking and problem-solving skills,” says Ashley, a former ESPN chess commentator. “I want to translate these chess skills into life skills.”
Ashley has been coming to Schenectady for several years to do chess demonstrations at both Proctors and the Hamilton Hill Arts Center’s Juneteenth Celebration. This is his first-ever chess summer camp.
Camp organizer and chess enthusiast Marshall Tucker, of Schenectady, urged Ashley to run the camp after watching nearly 100 area children participate in monthly chess tournaments at Proctors.
Tucker hopes that the camp will become an annual event.
“We’ve already had discussions to get Union College on board as well as continuing our relationship with Proctors,” says Tucker, who hopes to increase the camp’s enrollment next year by moving to a bigger facility. “It’s all in the planning stages.”
Caitlyn Foley, Proctors’ education program manager, says she too hopes the program will continue next year. Proctors hosts several arts-based camps as part of its Summer Adventures series.
“Like all of our summer programs, the chess camp continues to create hands-on experiences for kids who are excited about learning,” says Foley.
Foley noted that campers don’t sit in a room and play chess all day. Ashley’s students will also participate in improv acting workshops with the Mop & Bucket Company’s Brenny Rabine, watch movies in the GE Theatre, go rock climbing at the Electric City Rock Gym, and make an instructional chess video for SACC-TV, Schenectady’s public access station.
Ashley says he thinks these activities help with team building, an important and often overlooked aspect of chess.
“Chess is an extremely social game,” says Ashley. “You’re not sitting in a room by yourself, you’re talking to a person and having fun.”
As Ashley speaks, the room is abuzz with young chess players excited at the prospect of putting their opponents in check. They’re excited to make their skills a little better.
“I’m here to learn new moves about how to capture pieces,” says Singh, of Schenectady, who captured Sundown’s knight after a few moves. “Today I learned how to trap a knight with a queen.”
The five-day camp ran through Friday, July 11.
By ROSS MARVIN
marvinr@spotlightnews.com
2008 Opening day BHBL Baseball
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Posted on Wed, July 16th, 2008Written by: ,
email:
Shaune Sundown, 11, is simply hoping to survive.
His black knight is his only piece on the chessboard and his opponent, Keeshma Singh, 9, is on the attack.
She has only one piece on the board as well — a queen.
Sundown knows he can’t win, but his goal is to keep Singh from taking his knight in fewer than six moves.
Sundown and Singh aren’t engaged in a real chess match. Rather, they’re engaged in an exercise created by Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, who brought his unique brand of chess to Proctors last week for the first MATCH Chess camp.
Where the usual summer camp has kids fishing, swimming and playing kickball, the 27 campers at Proctors spent long afternoons considering the moves of pawns, bishops and rooks.
The players, ages 8 to 14, display varying levels of skill. Some are beginners, and some, like Singh, have won trophies in local and regional tournaments.
Singh and 19 other campers were awarded a full-tuition scholarship to the camp, which costs $420.
Private contributors the Golub Corporation, the Schenectady Police Athletic League, the City Mission and others donated scholarship funds.
The City Mission provides lunches to campers.
Ashley, who’s coached three national championship chess teams and one individual national champion in New York City, says he hopes the camp will bring a general interest in chess to Schenectady. He says the value of chess goes far beyond the game’s rules.
“I want chess to be used for other reasons. It teaches critical thinking and problem-solving skills,” says Ashley, a former ESPN chess commentator. “I want to translate these chess skills into life skills.”
Ashley has been coming to Schenectady for several years to do chess demonstrations at both Proctors and the Hamilton Hill Arts Center’s Juneteenth Celebration. This is his first-ever chess summer camp.
Camp organizer and chess enthusiast Marshall Tucker, of Schenectady, urged Ashley to run the camp after watching nearly 100 area children participate in monthly chess tournaments at Proctors.
Tucker hopes that the camp will become an annual event.
“We’ve already had discussions to get Union College on board as well as continuing our relationship with Proctors,” says Tucker, who hopes to increase the camp’s enrollment next year by moving to a bigger facility. “It’s all in the planning stages.”
Caitlyn Foley, Proctors’ education program manager, says she too hopes the program will continue next year. Proctors hosts several arts-based camps as part of its Summer Adventures series.
“Like all of our summer programs, the chess camp continues to create hands-on experiences for kids who are excited about learning,” says Foley.
Foley noted that campers don’t sit in a room and play chess all day. Ashley’s students will also participate in improv acting workshops with the Mop & Bucket Company’s Brenny Rabine, watch movies in the GE Theatre, go rock climbing at the Electric City Rock Gym, and make an instructional chess video for SACC-TV, Schenectady’s public access station.
Ashley says he thinks these activities help with team building, an important and often overlooked aspect of chess.
“Chess is an extremely social game,” says Ashley. “You’re not sitting in a room by yourself, you’re talking to a person and having fun.”
As Ashley speaks, the room is abuzz with young chess players excited at the prospect of putting their opponents in check. They’re excited to make their skills a little better.
“I’m here to learn new moves about how to capture pieces,” says Singh, of Schenectady, who captured Sundown’s knight after a few moves. “Today I learned how to trap a knight with a queen.”
The five-day camp ran through Friday, July 11.
By ROSS MARVIN
marvinr@spotlightnews.com
2008 Opening day BHBL Baseball
Readers had this to say
Nobody has made any comments about this yet... you could be the first. Comment about this article.