The Mount Alexander Schools Chess Challenge takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, with schools from across Victoria to compete for handmade trophies created by local man Tom Taft.

Chess has long been the domain of private schools, the competition’s Kevin Brown says, but with the right funding and clever use of good volunteer chess tutors public school students can embrace the game.

“We find chess meets the needs of a diverse range of kids, from those who are really bright and academic through to those who might be struggling in other parts of the curriculum,” the former Winters Flat Primary School principal said.

“In a lot of schools chess is the only thing that those kids get to represent the school at. There was a little boy at Winters Flat who was illiterate and innumerate, but chess was his game.

“How does the brain work like that? Here is a complex game like chess. He was a whizz at it but he could barely read.”

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Mr Brown first started adding chess to the curriculum after a school visitor came in to show grade two students how to play the game.

“On the blackboard this chess tutor had written a little equation: ‘2P + 1B = _’. Most of the kids could tell me what the answer was. I thought ‘this is early algebra, kids in year seven struggle with this’.”

Chess was also a way of breaking away from maths lessons based on photocopied pages from textbooks, which Mr Brown said bright children regarded as boring and struggling children found too hard.

Teachers could use chess to tailor learning to children’s needs, he said.

“All the research suggests if you can give kids hands-on activities and use their hands to manipulate things they will build up their confidence and understanding of concepts like coordinates and even algebra,” Mr Brown said.

The Mount Alexander Schools Chess Challenge is now in its fourth year and competition organisers provide grants of up to $1000 for qualifying schools to overcome some of the financial barriers they face, including transport to competitions and setting up programs.

Part of the challenge for public school teachers is fitting chess into a crowded curriculum. 

Mr Brown said his former school got around that problem by inviting volunteers from the local chess club to school once a week, and incorporating their expertise into teachers’ lesson plans.

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