The U.S. Chess Trust is One of the Sponsors of the Chess in Education Workshop !

USCF Chess in Education Workshop to Be Held in Dallas, August 7, 2008
Contact: Alexey Root alexey.root@gmail.com
Release date: June 7, 2008.

The United States Chess Federation (USCF) Chess in Education workshop is open for registration.

USCF workshop: co-organizers Dr. Alexey Root and Dr. Tim Redman, sponsors USCF, U.S. Chess Trust, The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB), Texas Tech University (TTU), and The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD)

Thursday, August 7, 2008:

1:00-1:30 USCF Chess in Education committee business meeting (John Buky and Joseph Eberhard, co-chairs).

1:30-2:00 Dr. Alexey Root, author of Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving, presents a classroom activity.

Looking to combine educational goals with chess? Dr. Root presents an activity from her most recent book that teaches the geometry of the board along with the particular way in which knights move, all wrapped up in a fun story. Come hear, and participate in, “Coco Can’t Wait.”

2:00-3:00 Keynote Speaker Russell Harwood, Chess Program Director
UTB/TSC, presents, The Chess Boom in Brownsville, Texas, and Tips for Duplicating it Where You Live.

Scholastic chess is booming in Brownsville, Texas, and the surrounding communities. Of the 50 schools in the Brownsville Independent School District, at least 35 have active chess programs. Six different Brownsville ISD schools have won national chess championships, led by Dr. Americo Paredes Elementary’s seven national titles. Two elementary school students have tied for individual national championships, and many others have finished in the top five. The chess success of our local schools got the attention of Dr. Juliet Garcia, President of The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, who formed a chess program at UTB/TSC so that area students would have the opportunity to earn scholarships and compete in chess at the university level. The Brownsville Independent School District has gotten onboard, and now allocates about $400,000 per year to their chess program. Chess has become a source of pride to BISD, UTB/TSC, and our community, and is now part of our identity. How did all of this come about? How can these results be duplicated elsewhere? Are there other successful models in our area? How does the future look? These questions and more will be addressed during this informative presentation.

3:00-3:30 Break for refreshments.

3:30-4:00 Jerry Nash, Scholastic and FIDE Director for USCF, presents Strategies to Introduce Chess as an Educational Tool: Coordinating the Five Communities.

Scholastic chess has seen a dramatic increase within the last twenty years. In 1988, the United States Chess Federation’s youth and scholastic members totaled approximately 7000. By 2002, the two age groups combined for over 53,000 members. The state of chess in education may be characterized by its status as two types of programs: after-school and curriculum instruction. By far the majority of scholastic chess programs fall within the after-school category. The coordination of four communities – educational, civic, business, and political communities – along with the chess community is critical for the development of opportunities to demonstrate the value of chess for instruction.

4:00-4:30 Rosalyn B. Katz, author of The New Jersey Chess Bill; Chess in the Classroom; Start Playing Chess; and, Play Better Chess, presents Make it Legal – Chess Legislation and Application.

New Jersey’s Chess Bill was passed in 1993. Fifteen years later, we examine such questions as: What good did it do? How and why was it done? How did we overcome obstacles and constraints? Is similar activity a viable option for your state? How can we go even further? Those interested in expanding chess in their own states in a legalistic and practical way, will find an organized approach to success. Booklets about the process will be provided for those in attendance by the NJ State Chess Federation. Roz will offer individual consultation, at no additional charge, from August 6th through August 11th for promoters developing action plans for their own states.

4:30-5:00 Dr. Tim Redman, editor of Chess and Education: Selected Essays from the Koltanowski Conference, presents Chess and Syntax: Some practical applications for teachers.

In his talk for the Chess in the Schools and Communities Conference (CISCCON) http://www.abdn.ac.uk/rowangroup/cisccon.shtml, Professor Redman spoke on “Chess and Syntax: An Hypothesis.” In that paper, he noted that among the counterintuitive results coming from valid research in chess and education was the effect that chess had on increasing reading scores among young chess players. He offered as an hypothesis explaining this result that chess possesses a kind of syntax, and that learning this para-syntactic system indirectly but noticeably helps students. In this paper, Dr. Redman furthers his work on that question. Agreeing with his colleague Dr. Alexey Root that we must modify chess instruction to meet educational goals, he will explain some lesson plans that teach chess through emphasizing instruction that explains it in syntactic and rhetorical terms relevant to language arts instruction.

Location: Held during the U.S. Open, August 2-August 10, 2008The Westin Park Central12720 Merit DriveDallas, TX 752511-888-627-7032$99 Chess Rate

Participant fee information:
For the U.S. Open workshop: $10 for participants post-marked by July 24th, $15 at the U.S. Open site.

Address for participant registration:
For USCF workshop, send advance fees (made out to U.S. Chess Trust Chess in Education fund) to:
Dr. Alexey Root
500 Sunrise Cove
Denton, TX 76209
940-484-2265
alexey.root@gmail.com

About The USCF The United States Chess Federation, founded in 1939, serves as the governing body for chess in the United States and is devoted to extending the role of chess in American society. It promotes the study and knowledge of the game of chess, for its own sake as an art and enjoyment, and as a means for the improvement of society. The USCF is a not-for-profit membership organization with more than 90,000 members. For more information, please see http://www.uschess.org
About the U.S. Chess Trust

The U.S. Chess Trust is an independent 501(c)(3), non-profit organization.

Created in 1967, the Trust was organized to promote, stimulate and encourage the study and play of the game of chess as a means of intellectual development. The Trust uses its resources for charitable purposes, including social, educational, scientific, historical endeavors. Our Trustees act without compensation, and are dedicated to the U.S. Chess Trust’s mission. The U.S. Chess Trust’s focus is an outgrowth of similar activities formerly carried out by the U.S. Chess Federation. We promote and support chess in the community through our programs, and by providing resources that help support our mission. In addition, we also actively support charities conducted by the USCF and other chess organizations. For more information about the U.S. Chess Trust, visit www.uschesstrust.org

About UT Brownsville

The University of Texas at Brownsville has been a member of The University of Texas System since 1991. In cooperation with Texas Southmost College, The University serves more than 12,000 students at its campus located in Brownsville, Texas. In Partnership with Texas Southmost College, The University offers a wide range of courses from Associate and Baccalaureate degrees to graduate classes and continuing education. For additional information about UT Brownsville, please visit the University’s website at http://www.utb.edu/

About Texas Tech University

With nearly 29,000 students yet a cozy-feeling campus, Texas Tech students get the benefits of a major research institution without getting lost in the crowd. Texas Tech offers more than 150 degree programs through ten colleges. Texas Tech has a top-ranked School of Law, a Graduate School, and a Health Sciences Center that leads the country in areas such as aging and border health. They’re all located on the same campus. In 2007, TTU established the Susan Polgar Institute for Chess Excellence (SPICE) with its mission being

• To promote chess as vehicle for enriching education
• To serve as the global center for chess research, education and development
• To support and promote competitive chess at the college level
• To recruit outstanding undergraduate and graduate studentsFor additional information about TTU, please visit the University’s website at http://www.ttu.edu

About UT Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The University offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the University’s website at http://www.www.utdallas.edu