GM Artur Yusupov training young talents in Apeldoorn (photo book cover by Fred Lucas)

Chess and Autism
Excerpt from ‘Developing Chess Talent’ by Karel and IM Merijn van Delft

Chess is a suitable sport for many children and adults with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Scientific research on this subject is lacking, also on an international level. Experience indicates that chess stimulates social, emotional and cognitive development.

A new book, “Developing Chess Talent”, by Karel and IM Merijn van Delft, uses case histories to illustrate this assumption.

CLICK HERE TO READ  “CHESS AND AUTISM ARTICLE by KAREL van DELFT (Excerpts from Book) (PDF)

The following Press Release provides you with more information about this book….

PRESS RELEASE Book ‘Developing Chess Talent’

The book ‘Developing Chess Talent’ will be published in April 2010. The subtitle is ‘How to create a chess culture by coaching, training, organization and communication’.

Authors are Karel van Delft and IM Merijn van Delft. The foreword is by GM Artur Yusupov. The translation is by Peter Boel. Publisher is KVDC (Karel van Delft Communication), Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.

‘Developing Chess Talent’ is a translation of the Dutch book ‘Schaaktalent ontwikkelen’ (KVDC, 2008). Please find attached the contents, as well as an article about chess and autism contained in the book. These texts may be reprinted on the condition that the original authors and the source are credited. The picture may also be published (credits: www.fredlucas.eu).

A month before publication of ‘Developing Chess Talent’, a preview with contents, parts of the text, the foreword by GM Artur Yusupov and some pictures from inside the book will be made available.

The book can be ordered via Karel van Delft, karel@kvdc.nl. The price is 24,50 euros plus 3 euros for postage handling.

Merijn van Delft and Karel van Delft are both psychologists. They were co-founders of the Apeldoorn chess foundation SBSA, which has trained several Dutch youth champions. Merijn van Delft is a professional chess trainer, living in Hamburg, Germany. Karel van Delft is a freelance publicist, living in Apeldoorn, The Netherlands.

The attachments are in pdf. If you prefer, we can send you versions in Word.

Sincerely, Karel van Delft

In recognition of Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess exhibit currently on display at the Francis Naumann Gallery in New York City (Sept. 10th – Oct. 30th, 2009), we are running this article, previously published on our website in 2007.

Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, LLC
24 West 57th Street, Suite 305
New York, NY 10019
Tel: 212.582.3201

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday through Saturday
11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Marcel Duchamp Article (Previously published on our website 2007)

“…I HAVE COME TO THE PERSONAL CONCLUSION THAT WHILE ALL ARTISTS ARE NOT CHESS PLAYERS, ALL CHESS PLAYERS ARE ARTISTS.” MARCEL DUCHAMP

BIOGRAPHY OF MARCEL DUCHAMP 1887-1968:

Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp was born July 28, 1887, near Blainville, France.

In 1904, he joined his artist brothers, Jacques Villon and Raymond Duchamp-Villon, in Paris, where he studied painting at the Academie Julian until 1905.

Duchamps early works were Post-Impressionist in style. He exhibited for the first time in 1909 at the Salon des Independants and the Salon d’ Automne in Paris.

His paintings of 1911 were directly related to Cubism but emphasized successive images of a single body in motion.

In 1912, he painted the definitive version of Nude Descending a Staircase; this was shown at the Salon de la Section d’Or of that same year and subsequently created great controversy at the Armory Show in New York in 1913.

Duchamps radical and iconoclastic ideas predated the founding of the Dada movement in Zurich in 1916.

By 1913, he had abandoned traditional painting and drawing for various experimental forms, including mechanical drawings, studies, and notations that would be incorporated in a major work, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (1915-23; also known as The Large Glass).

In 1914, Duchamp introduced his ready made common objects, sometimes altered, presented as works of art, which had a revolutionary impact upon many painters and sculptors.

In 1915, Duchamp traveled to New York, where his circle included Katherine Dreier and Man Ray, with whom he founded the Societe Anonyme in 1920, as well as Louise and Walter Arensberg, Francis Picabia, and other avant-garde figures.

After playing chess avidly for nine months in Buenos Aires, Duchamp returned to France in the summer of 1919 and associated with the Dada group in Paris.

In New York in 1920, he made his first motor-driven constructions and invented Rrose Slavy, his feminine alter ego.

Duchamp moved back to Paris in 1923 and seemed to have abandoned art for chess but in fact continued his artistic experiments.

From the mid-1930s, he collaborated with the Surrealists and participated in their exhibitions.

Duchamp settled permanently in New York in 1942 and became a United States citizen in 1955.

During the 1940s, he associated and exhibited with the Surrealist migrs in New York, and in 1946 began Etant donnes: 1. la chute d’eau 2. le gaz d’clairage, a major assemblage on which he worked secretly for the next 20 years.

He died October 2, 1968, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

A PASSION FOR CHESS:

Marcel Duchamp had a lifelong passion for chess.

He once said “I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art – and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.”

March 1952, Duchamp had given up painting in favor of chess thirty years before.

Marcel Duchamp played thousands of chess games, and he was known as a very strong Chess Master.

Duchamp’s creativity had a significant impact in art. One wonders how chess influenced his way of thinking and his views about art and creativity.

Duchamp once said:

“The chess pieces are the block alphabet which shapes thoughts; and these thoughts, although making a visual design on the chess-board, express their beauty abstractly, like a poem…. I have come to the personal conclusion that while all artists are not chess players, all chess players are artists.” Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968), French artist, address, Aug. 30, 1952, New York State Chess Association.

Duchamp was not only an avid chessplayer; he was also an active member of the chess community and made multiple contributions to chess, which will also made him a chess philanthropist.

THE MOVIE – PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST: MARCEL DUCHAMP – A GAME OF CHESS (1963):

This movie is an interview segment with the French artist. Filmed in black-and-white, this interview was held at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1963. Duchamp discusses his theories on the game of chess, his expatriate status in America, and his decision to stop working after 1923.

A Teacher’s Guide

Developed by William Levy, Hopatcong Borough Schools (1986 – Hopatcong, New Jersey)

“Students who have shown prowess in chess and in the abstract thinking, intense concentration, problem solving, and mental strategy involved have shown themselves and their world that they are capable individuals who can be successful in an experience which requires them to use their minds.”

Teacher Guide: Introduction

There is a certain intellectual aura about chess. The game of chess is generally considered to be cerebral in tone, and is viewed as a game for scholars and geniuses. Most Americans think of chess as being extremely difficult to learn, to grasp, and to play.

The core of this program is to expose students who have had a history of academic learning problems and school failure to a positive and successful cognitive experience. By learning, grasping, and playing the very game which most of society perceives as so complex, the self-esteem of these youngsters can only improve. After a youngster has shown he or she is capable of understanding the nuances, the strategies, and the vocabulary of chess; after a youngster has effectively competed in chess with family sages and school “gifted and talented” opponents, he or she will not consider himself “stupid” again.

Once students have begun to show progress in their games, the intellectual mystique of chess is stressed as is the general public’s view of chess being so difficult to comprehend. Excercises and activities throughout this program, directly and subtly, reinforce the perspective that chess is a hard game to master, and if you have mastered it, you are most definitely special.

Although the central objective of this program is to promote self-esteem, quite obviously there is a close relationship between building a stronger self-image and improving academic outputs. Grasping a sophisticated game such as chess, which initially appears to be extremely difficult if not impossible to learn, creates a positive attitude, increased confidence, and a heightened sense of control. According to the research findings discussed in the Program Description, such experiences may very well be particularly significant for students who have difficulty achieving success in the regular academic areas. Students who have shown prowess in chess and in the abstract thinking, intense concentration, problem solving, and mental strategy involved have shown themselves and their world that they are capable individuals who can be successful in an experience which requires them to use their minds.

To Read Entire Article – Click Here.

Click Image to View the Video Report

US Schools Recognize Benefits of Chess
By Julie Taboh
Washington
26 November 2008

Studies worldwide have shown playing chess has benefits, especially for young children. Inspired by this knowledge, a growing number of teachers in the U.S. are trying to incorporate chess into their students’ lives. VOA correspondent Julie Taboh has more.

Frankie Roth used to be a troubled child. Georgia Clark, the principal at his Maryland school, remembers when she first met him.

“My first impression of Frankie was, we’ve got to do something for him. He is not going to make it,” Clark says. “He was in third grade and having a very difficult time with every adult that he met.”

Clark decided to enroll Frankie in her after-school chess program. She saw a dramatic change in just a few months.

“…When he finally found that he could be successful in chess club, then he just began to blossom,” she says. “And I’ve just seen a great difference in him in the last two years.”

About 30 countries, including Russia, value chess so much that it’s included in school curriculums. Two of the most famous chess champions, Garry Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, are Russian. The United States has lagged behind.

Now, an increasing number of public schools in the U.S. are offering chess in after-school programs.

Jim Fite is the creator and coach of the chess club at North East Elementary School. He says experts agree about the benefits of chess on children’s brains, even starting at age 2.  Click to Read full article >>

(RR) IS CHESS 99% TACTICS?

According to Richard Teichmann this is the case..What do you think?

Lets take a look at the following position: White to move.

White wins with a remarkable Rook sacrifice! Try to find it…