YEREVAN (AP)—Tiny Armenia is a big player in world chess, and a new gambit could make it even bigger: mandatory chess in school.
The click-clack of chess pieces is being heard around the former Soviet nation’s primary schools this fall, as the game becomes part of the curriculum along with such standards as math and history for children between the ages of seven and nine.
Chess is a national obsession in this nation of three million people tucked away in a corner between Turkey and Iran. The passion was fostered in modern times by the exploits of chess champion Tigran Petrosian, who won the world championship in 1963 and then successfully defended his title three years later.
In July, a six-person national squad came first at the World Team Chess Championship in Ningbo, China. The returning players and their coach were greeted as heroes and collectively awarded $20,000. That group included up-and-coming player Levon Aronian, 28, who is currently rated third in the World Chess Federation’s rankings.
Armenian authorities say teaching chess in school is about building character, not breeding chess champs.
The education minister says taking the pastime into classrooms will help nurture a sense of responsibility and organization among schoolchildren, as well as serve as an example to the rest of the world.
“We hope that the Armenian teaching model might become among the best in the world,” Armen Ashotyan told the Associated Press.
Half a million dollars were allocated to the national chess academy to draw up a course, create textbooks, train instructors, and buy equipment. Another $1 million went toward buying furniture for chess classrooms.
The only thing eight-year-old David Ayrapetyan is hoping for from the program: an opponent worthy of his skills.
The chess whiz finds the retirees and children who hang out in the yard outside his apartment block to be pushovers. Only classmate Aren Sedrakyan can give Ayrapetyan a run for his money.
Ayrapetyan’s father, Arman, is happy to put up with the boy’s incessant pleas for him to find better opponents. He thinks chess is good for him no matter what the future holds.
“Even if he doesn’t become a grandmaster, chess will teach him to think logically and improvise, as those are indispensable qualities in life,” he said.
Wendi Fischer, the executive director of the United States’ Foundation for Chess, has campaigned for the game to be taken up in U.S. classrooms and says Armenia’s program has big potential.
“By incorporating chess as part of the curriculum, you are including a game, and that’s how kids see it,” Fischer said. “They think they’re focused on fun. So I think it is a great way to cross over between a true hardcore curriculum that’s mandatory and the young children being able to play and explore and have fun.”
11 Comments To "Armenia Takes Chess Obsession into Classroom"
#1 Comment By Vincent Lima On November 16, 2011 @ 1:23 pm
Funny that the AP correspondent or editor fails to mention Garry Kasparov as an Armenian chess hero!
#2 Comment By AR On November 16, 2011 @ 4:56 pm
Kasparov is a self hating Armenian. Why would anyone seriously mention him in a discussion about Armenian heroes, either in chess or some other field?
#3 Comment By Raymond On November 16, 2011 @ 7:40 pm
I don’t think that it’s intentional that AP reporter hasn’t mentioned that Kasparov is half-Armenian. Unfortunately most people are not familiar with differences between ethnic groups, and the accepted notion of nationality is defined by the place of ones birth, and the passport of the country that they carry. So technically he is not Armenian! He used to play under Azerbaijani flag, and after the 1988 pogroms of Baku, he and his extended family fled to Russia, and from then on he played under Russian flag… He has also opened up chess schools in Azerbaijan, and Israel, but not in Armenia. Go figure…
#4 Comment By Jay On November 17, 2011 @ 8:31 pm
Gary, was seven years old when he lost his father. His Armenian mother, Clara Kasparyan, dedicated her free time and energy to her talented son for him to excel in chess.. Had it not been for Gary’s ARMENIAN mother, there wouldn’t have existed, Gary Kasparov. Ain’t that right, Raymond?
#5 Comment By Raymond On November 22, 2011 @ 1:54 pm
Hi Jay, I don’t think there is one single person, or event that has a detrimental effect in an individual’s life. There is no dispute that one’s parents have a great influence on one’s upbringing. So do grandparents, teachers, and last but not least luck. His father taught him the game, his mother nurtured it after her husband’s death, his teacher’s elevated his game to the master/grandmaster level, he was lucky to be invited to Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk in 1978 as an exception and took the first prize and became a chess master. He repeatedly has said that this event was a turning point in his life, and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career…
#6 Comment By Gina On November 22, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
Raymond,
From what I know, nobody taught Garry how to play chess. His mom and dad played chess with each other and the little boy learned the game by watching his parents play. Garry’s parents realized that he was very talented when they were trying to solve a chess problem and the boy suggested a clever move. It was suprising, since nobody had ever explained the rules of the game to him properly before.
I am sure that Garry’s father would’ve done everything for him if he were alive. It is unfortunate that his mom had to do everything alone but, given the circumstances, she did a remarkable job. She is one brave, intelligent, and strong woman. Yes, the teachers did they job but Clara was the one who guided her son with her wisdom throughout his career. Kasparov has expressed his gratitude to her more than to anybody else. He has also credited his mother for his outstanding work ethics.
If it’s about Garry’s natural talent for chess, both his father and mother should be credited for it. He is their son and both sides of his family are very intelligent and successful professionals. I am not sure whether you are trying to diminish the mother’s contribution by saying that she “nurtured it” but that’s how I understood it. Perhaps, I am wrong.
He repeatedly has said that this event [Sokolsky Memorial tournament in Minsk in 1978] was a turning point in his life, and that it convinced him to choose chess as his career…
I think he said that this is when he felt that he had a good chance to become the world champion. Maybe, he also decided that chess would be his career. My guess is that he had already made that decision but I don’t know for sure.
#7 Comment By Raymond On November 22, 2011 @ 7:50 pm
@Gina,
Re:
> I am not sure whether you are trying to diminish the mother’s contribution by saying that she “nurtured it” but that’s how I understood it. Perhaps, I am wrong.
———————————
I can’t understand how one would take the word “nurture” as implying diminishing ones contribution… I have more respect for Kasparov’s mother than for Kasparov himself… If my simple clear compliment gets misinterpreted as just the opposite then I don’t know how else to discuss this thing without fear of getting misinterpreted again on very simple and clear opinions… Take for example Jay’s comment and his comment/question to me. What was the point?
Re:
> From what I know, nobody taught Garry how to play chess. His mom and dad played chess with each other and the little boy learned the game by watching his parents play. Garry’s parents realized that he was very talented when they were trying to solve a chess problem and the boy suggested a clever move.
———————————
Yes I have read the Wikipedia too. I can assure you that here and there someone has told him how the knight, queen, king and the rook move… Anyway I don’t even know what we are discussing at this point! If anything the point of the conversation from the first two comments was that Kasparov doesn’t identify himself as Armenian, and has stayed away from taking sides between Armenia and Azerbaijan in their conflict, etc. So what’s next? Steve Jobs’s Armenian mother made him the technological genius?
#8 Comment By Gina On November 22, 2011 @ 10:13 pm
Raymond,
I did not read it in Wikipedia. I read it many years ago in a Soviet chess magazine. And that’s how it was described: he learned the game by looking at how it was played by his parents. I think that shouldn’t be so hard for a smart kid, especially as smart as Kasparov. I think you are the one who got your information in Wikipedia, word for word.
What are we discussing? I am not sure what is the point that you have been trying to make. You seem to be bothered by the fact that he is half Armenian. Who do you want him to be?
Kasparov doesn’t identify himself as Armenian. How do you know? Did he tell you about that? In an interview with 60 minutes a few years ago, he repeatedly identified himself as half-Armenian-half-Jewish or Armenian-Jewish. I don’t know what you mean by him not taking sides but he was actually telling the truth about the Baku pogroms against the Armenians and how he had to leave the city.
By the way, have you realized that he was thrown out of Baku because Azeris considered him an Armenian?
He also supports the truth when it comes to the Armenian Genocide. This is his stance on the issue.
“You can’t talk about the Holocaust and deny the Armenian Genocide in Turkey,” leader of the Russian opposition United Civil Front Garry Kasparov said in a response to a question about reports that some Jewish organizations, like ADL, oppose congressional affirmation of the Genocide.
Kasparov told the National Public Radio’s “On Point” program on May 2 that he has “no doubt that
Turkey will have to recognize the Genocide if it wants to join the European Union and I don’t think there is any other way but for Turkey to recognize these horrible massacres of 1915.”
“And if there are activities of [Jewish groups] supporting Turkey in their attempt to stifle the recognition of the Genocide, then it is of course another policy of double standards. And that I
reject most of all.”
He has also opened up chess schools in Azerbaijan, and Israel, but not in Armenia. And so what? He has played in team Armenia against the World team in 2004.
And your bringing in Steve Jobbs adoptive Armenian mother is truly a cheap shot.
#9 Comment By Raymond On November 23, 2011 @ 1:41 am
@Gina
> I did not read it in Wikipedia. I read it many years ago in a Soviet chess magazine. And that’s how it was described:
——————————
What difference does it make where you read it. Point is don’t believe the embellishments.
=========================
Re:
> Kasparov doesn’t identify himself as Armenian. How do you know? Did he tell you about that?
——————————
Excellent argument. Are you in the 8th grade? If it’s a cheap shot then be it. I am too tired to be politically correct at this hour. So I guess you and I will not know anything about anything unless we are told directly by the person…
=========================
Again I don’t know how we got to this point. My simple comment at the beginning was explaining the report to the first commenter, and then along the way my compliment to his mother got turned up on its head… That is what bothered me most. Kasparov being full Armenian, half-Armenian, 1/64th Armenian doesn’t make a slightest difference in my life. I could care less (on a side note many people think that he looks like me, or I look like him!).
A tidbit about Kasparov (no he didn’t tell me himself) is that when his mother realized how talented he was, she brought him to Armenia (I believe when he was 13) and asked the Armenian gov. authorities at the time if they would accommodate her and his son by giving them housing, and providing high level chess instructions. The Armenian authorities of the time didn’t care much about that proposal, and declined it, so her mother was disheartened, and disgusted, and took him back to Baku where the Azeris were much more accommodating…
Regarding Steve Jobs, I apologize. It seemed like that’s where you or the previous commenter – Jay were going…
#10 Comment By Gina On November 23, 2011 @ 10:30 am
Raymond,
You are right. This is getting out of control. I am sure there was no intention to hurt anybody by any of us here and I apoligize if I did. Let’s just put this behind.
I have heard about the story you are telling when Clara took young Garry to Armenia but did not have a warm welcome. Too bad. I guess, Armenians have been trying to make up for the mistake since then.
#11 Comment By Nick On September 4, 2012 @ 6:25 am
I’ve been hearing a lot about Armenia as a place where people whether it be an adult or a teenager are obsessed to playing chess! I guess it’s a positive thing and it’s really good for them. It deserves the inclusion of it to school curriculum as it plays a great impact to the academic growth of kids. Parents must be supportive in order for their children to be motivated in playing chess.
There’s another site which advocates the importance of chess to kids’ education. You might also want to visit http://smartdolphins.net/online-chess-coaching/