English Chess Forum

Hello.
How do you discover chess talent?

You teach all the young boys and girls how to play, and then before long the exceptionally talented ones stand out a mile.

Am I right in thinking that in some countries they actually do this? An ex-girlfriend of mine teaches chess on the curriculum to the 7 year olds in her Manhattan school. Does anyone know of any countries which do this as a national policy, rather than school by school?

You put a white knight on a1 and black pawns on c3, f3, c6 and f6, and time how long it takes them to move the knight to every square around the edge of the board in turn, without capturing or being attacked by any of the pawns. If it's under 2 minutes, they have chess talent. If it's over 2 minutes, they have no chess talent.

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:33 pm

You teach all the young boys and girls how to play, and then before long the exceptionally talented ones stand out a mile.

Am I right in thinking that in some countries they actually do this? An ex-girlfriend of mine teaches chess on the curriculum to the 7 year olds in her Manhattan school. Does anyone know of any countries which do this as a national policy, rather than school by school?

From the Guardian chess column, 23 August:

Russia has announced that chess is to become a compulsory subject in its schools. Olga Vasilieva, the Minister of Education and Science, said: “Children playing chess have better academic performance. Engagement with chess helps them with mental development.” Starting in September, all Russian first graders will study chess for at least 33 hours per year over four years. Chess replaces the third period of physical education class.

In the UK Chess in Schools and Communities provides chess instructors in over 800 schools. The charity, which also organises the annual London Classic and Grand Tour finals at Olympia where Carlsen will be favourite this year, is strongest in the inner cities with 20 schools involved in Newham and 14 in Hackney.

Armenia in 2011 was the first country in the world to make chess compulsory in schools, followed by Hungary in 2013. Their decisions were sparked by national achievements, Armenia because of its three Olympiad victories between 2006 and 2012, and Hungary through Judit Polgar, the all-time No 1 woman.

Success is hard to measure and depends on the criteria used, but sparking potential masters requires a more specialised approach. The USSR’s Young Pioneer Palaces. England’s 1970s junior squad, China’s chess schools, and India’s pre-teen semi-professional groups have all fostered very rapid progress in the critical years between age 10 and 13.

Keith Arkell wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2019 8:33 pm

You teach all the young boys and girls how to play, and then before long the exceptionally talented ones stand out a mile.

How can I measure their performance?

You and/or other suitably FIDE-rated players could try a ten-game rapidplay match against the best of your newly discovered talents.

If you think there are none talented enough for that to give meaningful results then play them a few games at odds of Q, R or N and classify them into Q-odds, R-odds and N-odds players. Repeat that procedure periodically until they end up winning all the time at N-odds Then try the method in the first paragraph.

St Paul's School in London has generated four GMS - so far. I believe this to be a world record for a non-specialst chess school. They are:
Jon Speelman, Julian Hodgson, William Watson, Dharshan Kumaran. The first 3 won the British Championship at various times and Dharshan lost the playoff to Mchael Hennigan of City of London School. that school also attraced Bill Hartston and Luke McShane.
Dulwich College became immensely strong during Ray Keene's time there. 3 players tied for 1st in one British U18 - all from Dulwich. But most of them did not develop greatly.

Stewart Reuben wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 21, 2019 1:07 pm

St Paul's School in London has generated four GMS - so far. I believe this to be a world record for a non-specialst chess school. They are:
Jon Speelman, Julian Hodgson, William Watson, Dharshan Kumaran. The first 3 won the British Championship at various times and Dharshan lost the playoff to Mchael Hennigan of City of London School. that school also attraced Bill Hartston and Luke McShane.
Dulwich College became immensely strong during Ray Keene's time there. 3 players tied for 1st in one British U18 - all from Dulwich. But most of them did not develop greatly.

But my question is how to discover them

Soheil surely you discover talent by running chess tournament of various types and looking at the results and studying the games.
What is particularly interesting about St Paul's, is that the school offered very little support to their first 3 GMs.