Students in one north Alabama city are ready for a week filled with square boards, strategy, knights and kings. Hour of Chess Week runs through Friday in the town of Madison.
Ranae Bartlett is Executive Director of the Madison City Chess League. She began as a parent volunteer for the chess club at her son’s school and started the Chess League not long after. Bartlett said playing chess allows kids to learn important life lessons.
“Chess teaches kids patience; it teaches them perseverance. There’s so many things that we want our kids to feel empowered to do, and we want them in the learning process to not be afraid to make mistakes,” she said.
Bartlett said playing chess has a lot to add to kids’ education.
“Some of the things that a kid will learn are life skills you want all kids to learn, such as critical thinking, planning, time management and strategy. They’re just playing a game, but we realize as adults and educators that these are the types of things and activities that we want our kids to do,” she said.
Hour of Chess is a program from ChessKid.com open to schools from across the country. Huntsville and Madison schools are regular participants. The Chess League also organizes both in-person and virtual chess tournaments.
