Dominque Pearson (left) and Tyler Thomas face off over a chess board on a recent Wednesday at Mabel Rush Elementary School. Volunteer chess master Greg Faucher helps explain basic moves to the students and teaches them how to control the center of the board.
It’s not Hogwarts and the chess pieces don’t move on their own like in the “Harry Potter” movies, but the early-morning chess club at Mabel Rush Elementary School draws an enthusiastic crowd all the same.
Thirty students gathered in the cafeteria on a recent Wednesday morning to face each other across 15 black-and-white checked game boards, under the eyes of volunteer supervisor Kathy Roberson.
“To be honest, I don’t know how to play the game,” said Roberson, who relies on parent and volunteer chess master Greg Faucher.
When the group first met, Faucher said, those that didn’t know the game were using the chess pieces to play checkers.
As a chess coach, Faucher explains the basic moves to beginners, with help from experienced students like 11-year-old Adam Buroce, who picked up the game three years ago after watching his dad and uncle play.
Like Buroce, Mason Schuback, 8, already knew how to play chess when he joined the group. Mason said he likes chess because “It’s a really quiet game. I just like time where I can think and be quiet.” He likes playing with his friend, Palmer Thompson, 7, because the two are at the same skill level, he said.
Faucher learned chess from his dad when he was 5 years old and has taught the game to his two daughters — Claire, 7, and Brooke, 5, who both join him at the before-school chess group.
He thinks the strategic analysis required for chess carries over into real-world skills such as math, critical thinking, evaluating opponents and so on.
Not to mention that it maximizes the “Harry Potter” experience. “It’s cool how they played it in the book,” said Jordan Fischer, 10, referring to a scene where the three main characters have to take the place of actual chess pieces on a board and play their way to the other side.
Adam Jeffries, 10, also likes the way more “normal” chess matches between Harry Potter and Ron Weasley feature live pieces that fight each other on the board. The books intensified Jeffries’ interest in a game he already knew, he said. “I also wish that magical wizarding chess was real.”
By: Jill Smith, Newberg Graphic
Published: 11/20/2012 2:29:39 PM
