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  • Chess mania captures Armenia's attention

    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."

    http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201331792224757326.html




    From: A. Papazian
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