When's the last time you saw a child choose a game of chess over a video game? If you answered "never", then you should pay a visit to Tuscaloosa's Freedom Chess Academy.
These children are mastering the game, and their parents notice they're winning in other arenas too. Some of these children have been playing chess for just a year. Their parents say it has made a difference. They've seen improvements in concentration and decision-making skills like never before.
Eight year old Samuel Smith studies his next move on an oversized chess board. To him it's just a game.
"What I like most about chess is I like playing it," said Smith.
But his mom, Joan King, has seen wins well beyond the game.
"I think what he has got most out of playing chess is the idea of having a strategy, the idea of thinking ahead, the idea of having a plan. And not only is he doing it with chess, but he'll start to have strategies for how he's doing other activities," said King.
Every Monday and Wednesday at the Tuscaloosa Library this is the scene children concentrating, studying, and calculating their next move.
The Freedom Chess Academy was founded twelve years ago by Marie Stutts.
"I fell in love with the game as a child. My dad quit playing with me when I started beating him," Stutts offers chess lessons free of charge.
All she wants in return is for her students to pass the game on to others, the way her father did with her .
"I love seeing the "aha" moments. When a child sees something and he studies it and he looks at it and he goes "aha" and gets the answer,"
Stutts understands that "ahah" moments here translate to "ahah" moments in the classroom.
Studies show that chess can improve cognitive abilities and rational thinking. Test scores among 7th and 8th graders at a school in Pennsylvania improved by more than 90 percent when children took up chess. Compared to just a four percent improvement among those who did not.
"What it does, particularly in our day in age where we have entertainment, a lot of which doesn't require quick reaction sand it's relatively shallow, this is something that counters that," said Neil Dietsch, president of Freedom Chess Academy.
He says children do not have to be geniuses to play the game. But once they start, they should expect to be challenged in some areas.
"Concentration, problem solving, judgment, calculating ability. When they are confronted with puzzles they respond very well," he said.
Deitsch says chess also teaches children how to handle defeat. Samuel may not realize it now, but chess has taught him resilience.
"If you think chess is too hard you've got to try and try again until you get it just right," he said.
