Al-Jazeera, Qatar
March 24 2013
Chess mania captures Armenia’s attention
Small Caucasus country is the first in the world to make chess
mandatory in schools, aiming to build a better society.
Yerevan, Armenia – Little Susie Hunanyan attended her favourite class
in school last week, and it wasn’t drawing, crafts or sport. The
seven-year-old sat studiously through an hour of chess lessons.
In Armenia, learning to play the grand game of strategy in school is
mandatory for children – the only country in the world that makes
chess compulsory – and the initiative has paid dividends. Armenia, a
Caucasus country with a population of just three million, is a chess
powerhouse.
Susie listened attentively as her teacher explained chess moves on a
large board in front of the class at the Yeghishe Charents Basic
School in the capital, Yerevan.
“I like chess lessons a lot. They always pass by smoothly,” she said,
setting up pieces sequentially on her board.
Armenia has produced more than 30 grandmasters and won the team chess
Olympiads in 2006, 2008 and 2012. Armenian champion Levon Aronian is
currently the third-best player in the world, according to the World
Chess Federation rankings.
In 2011, Armenia made chess compulsory for second, third and
fourth-graders. That’s why Susie and her classmates have two hours of
chess every week in school.
“My grandpa taught me how to play chess. But now that I learn chess in
school, I am better at it than he is,” Susie said, adding when she
grows up, she’d like to become a chess champion like her idol, Levon
Aronian.
For an hour, the students playfully engaged in one-on-one matches
against each other.
“Chess is having a good influence on their performance in other
subjects too. The kids are learning how to think, it’s making them
more confident,” said teacher Rosanna Putanyan, watching her pupils
play from the periphery.
Education project
The chess initiative is not only meant to scout young talent but also
build a better society. Armen Ashotyan, Armenia’s education minister,
told Al Jazeera the project is aimed at fostering creative thinking.
“Chess develops various skills – leadership capacities,
decision-making, strategic planning, logical thinking and
responsibility,” Ashotyan said. “We are building these traits in our
youngsters. The future of the world depends on such creative leaders
who have the capacity to make the right decisions, as well as the
character to take responsibility for wrong decisions.”
More than $3m has been spent on the project so far to supply chess
equipment and learning aids in all Armenian schools, Ashotyan added.
The majority of the budget was allocated to train chess players to
become good teachers. In coming years, spending on chess is expected
to rise, he said.
The initiative is also attracting attention from other countries.
Later this year, chess will be integrated into the national curriculum
of Hungary’s elementary schools. Countries such as Moldova, Ukraine
and Spain are showing interest in running similar projects.
In Britain, the United States, Switzerland, India, Russia and Cuba
schools have long offered chess as a subject, though no nationwide
legislation making it compulsory exists.
Developing mental capacities
A team of Armenian psychologists headed by Ruben Aghuzumstyan has been
researching the impact of chess on young minds since last year.
Aghuzumstyan said preliminary results show that children who play
chess score better in certain personality traits such as
individuality, creative thinking, reflexes and comparative analysis.
“During the first few years of school, children are equipped to learn
with games. So for kids who are seven, eight and nine, learning is
better through games, and chess is an optimised game which develops a
lot of areas of the brain,” Aghuzumstyan said.
The psychologist, who is also a member of the Armenian Chess
Federation, said chess improves social skills as well as mental
strength.
Chess became more popular in the former Soviet republic in the 1960s.
Tigran Petrosian, a former world champion who won many accolades for
the Soviet Union, became a household name in the 1970s. Ever since,
chess has become a staple sport of the country.
On sunny days, parks in Yerevan are filled with chess enthusiasts
capturing pawns and checkmating kings.
Aghuzumustyan explained why chess is so popular in Armenia, a nation
with a troubled past. “We have a tough history,” he said, referring to
the mass killings carried out by the Ottoman Empire during World War
I.
“Armenians have always been used to solving problems, because we
always had problems. For us it often wasn’t a question of living well
or not, but a question of living or not. And chess is about solving
problems on a board. It’s not a coincidence that we, as a country, are
so good at chess,” Aghuzumustyan said.
Grooming grandmasters
In one of Yerevan’s southern suburbs, an extravagant building complex
hosts the Chess Academy of Armenia. On a recent rainy afternoon,
dozens of young chess players filed into small training rooms to get
advanced lessons. The chess players, some as young as four, are being
groomed for a professional career, free of cost thanks to the
government.
Top-ranked chess players in Armenia win respect and adulation. Massive
billboards with photos of the winning Olympiad team of 2012 on
Yerevan’s streets indicate their star status.
And the government provides top players with handsome salaries and
perks: Tigran Petrosian, who was part of the gold-winning 2012 team
and shares the same name as the country’s champion during the 1970s,
drives a swanky Mercedes S-550.
“We don’t have to worry about money. That’s a good thing. Although we
have corporate sponsors for some events, it’s mainly the state that
supports and helps us out,” said Petrosian as he drank juice in a
Yerevan café.
The 29-year-old grandmaster said being a chess player in Armenia is a
big deal. “I get greeted on the streets when I walk. People chase me
home. And I get a lot of fan mail. I am happy to be a chess player in
this country.”
Yerevan Chess House, located in the heart of Armenia’s capital, bears
testimony to the country’s chess mania. Every day dozens of chess
players, young and old, spend hours here battling it out on their
boards. Magazines, newspapers, books and DVDs about chess are on sale
at the chess house’s newsstand.
“Chess 64” is a popular TV show hosted by Gagik Hovhannisian that has
been running since 1972. Earlier this year, the government introduced
another programme, “Chess World”, hosted by 22-year-old Aghasi Inants,
to attract youngsters to the sport.
On a recent afternoon at the Chess House, Inants said the aim of the
series is to popularise chess further. “In one show, we had chess
lessons for youngsters, chess news, we also have celebrity interviews,
as well as a section on chess history,” he said.
“One day a mother called me and said that her daughter wasn’t willing
to do her chess homework until she saw my show … The kid was sure that
it would be easier for her to solve her chess homework after she had
watched my show,” the host recounted proudly.
But not all Armenians are mad about chess. Inants’ friend David
Khachatryan doesn’t play and isn’t fond of the game either.
“I will be very happy the day when football here becomes as important
as chess,” Khachatryan told Al Jazeera. “It would be great to have a
football team as good as our chess team.”
From: A. Papazian
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201331792224757326.html