Fifth Graders Learn Chess

Adam I. Fogel, 10, plays a lot of chess. The Agassiz Elementary School fifth grader was a member of the 1990 Massachusetts junior high championship chess team.

But until last Saturday, Fogel had never played chess on a 20-foot by 20-foot canvas board. He had never used red and yellow pieces made of corrugated cardboard. And the pieces he had used had never approached his height.

"It's easier to play on a small board," Fogel said.

Then again, before Saturday, some of Fogel's schoolmates at Agassiz had never played chess at all. They got their first chance at the Agassiz Fair, thanks to Dr. Michael Charney and 15 Harvard Chess Club and Phillips Brooks House (PBH) volunteers.

Charney, an instructor at Harvard Medical School, built the oversized chess pieces and board for The Games Project, a rapidly expanding program he founded last year to introduce chess to inner-city youths. At events like Saturday's Agassiz Fair, he has found that the children are very receptive to the game.

"[Chess] is a brain sport which teaches kids to think, concentrate and plan ahead," said Charney, a graduate of Yale College and Yale Medical School. "It's fun and it builds brain muscle."

Expanded Program

Recently, Charney has even expanded the program to target inner-city gang members.

"By teaching them chess, we show them how to follow instructions, and how to channel their aggressions elsewhere," he said.

Charney hopes that other schools in Massachusetts and beyond will follow the example of Agassiz.

"We will expand to anywhere willing to take us," he promised.

Country's Finest

David A. Simons '93 and Jessica Ambats '95 come to the Agassiz school every week to assist the school's chess program, which has developed into one of the country's finest.

"It is really great when kids are thinking--and enjoying it," said Simons, a member of Harvard's national champion chess team.

To Marcia Duran, the director of the Aggasiz's program, the allure of chess is simple. While the game won't singlehandedly steer kids away from drugs, poverty or unemployment, it can help point them in the right direction, she said.

"Chess makes kids smart," said Duran.

For Fogel, the game's allure is equally simple.

"I like to use my mind," he said, "and I like to win.