More than 100 students from 27 schools in the St. Louis Public Schools District competed in the district’s annual chess tournament Friday at the St. Louis Science Center. From elementary to high school, students squared off in age-appropriate games for the seventh straight year through a partnership the school district has with the St. Louis Chess Club.
Dozens of tables with chess boards sat in rows in a room at the center as players went head-to-head Friday morning and into the early afternoon. The style of chess tournaments played on Friday is called “Quads,” which is four people sitting at a table while two games are going in a round-robin tournament, said Richard Pointer, the scholastic manager for the St. Louis Chess Club.
He held a clipboard in his hand and called out students' names to get them ready for pairing before their games began on Friday.
“We’ve been able to put this tournament on every year for the students across the district,” Pointer said. “It’s really fun. And we’re really proud that it fired off today without any hitches.”
He said they used to partner with more than 40 public schools in St. Louis, but the pandemic changed that. They’ve still served thousands of students in the district, however.
“The pandemic was hard on us,” Pointer said. “We’re in the Jennings School District, Ferguson-Florissant, Melville, Lindbergh and East St. Louis. So those are the big school districts. This is just a slice of what we’re doing. We’re really lucky to be partners with SLPS, they do a lot of this work to get these kids to show up.” He said the chess organization is affiliated with over 100 schools in the St. Louis area and has provided thousands of kids with chess instruction.
“Our mission, of course, is rooted in education of the game and growing that outreach through St. Louis,” Pointer said.
Romane Payton, 9, a third grader at Gateway Elementary, said he was a little nervous about his chess match as he waited his turn on Friday. He said he’s learning a lot about the game, but it came down to one thing for him.
“I’m learning how to win,” he said.
Carter White, a fourth grader at the Humboldt Academy of Higher Learning, smiled with excitement after just winning all three of his matches. He said he’s been playing chess for nearly three years.
“It’s pretty hard, but it’s really fun,” Carter said. “It’s hard because you have to learn and memorize a bunch of techniques.”
Eishawn Woodard, a fourth grader there too, said the game is relaxing for him.
“Chess helps me to be calm and also sharpens my mind,” Eishawn said.
The St. Louis Chess Club, which has provided mentorship to these students in the school district since August, is also a global player in the sport of chess, said Tad Middleton, an administrative director and director of development at the St. Louis Chess Club.
He acknowledged the fact that 10 years ago, St. Louis was deemed the Chess Capital of the U.S. by a proclamation that went through Congress – and it still is.
“We host major tournaments, and we not only bring the world’s best players and top-rated players to St. Louis, but we’re also on a global scale. We even have representation right now with a grand chess tour overseas in a tournament going on in Poland.”
A teacher’s perspective
Kewanaka Irving, a reading specialist at Gateway Elementary School, said from an academic standpoint, chess teaches students how to be strategic in cognitive thinking and allows them to consider multiple answers because they have to calculate their moves in advance.
“They have to be aware of the whole board,” she said. “I believe that it's a great, great asset for our students.”
Irving said playing the game of chess also provides exposure to something different for students that goes beyond the normal activities like sports and music.
“Our grandfathers played dominoes and chess, and now our kiddos are getting into it,” she said. “For a minute chess was lost, but the whole art of chess used to be extremely lost, so it's great that we have these programs.”
Jason Harris, 11, a fifth grader at Humboldt Academy of Higher Learning, encouraged young chess players to stick with the game and believe in themselves.
“It doesn’t matter when you would lose, like you could do anything and like there's only three games,” said Harris, who had just finished competing. “You can win a trophy sometimes, you know, but what I loved about chess is that you could shake hands and you can say ‘good game.’”
Winners of Friday’s tournament include:
- First place for elementary schools: Washington Montessori Elementary School
- First place for middle schools: McKinley Classical Leadership Academy
- First place for high schools: Sumner High School
