English Chess Forum

Does anyone know if the ECF had any involvement with a project called

Chess in Schools and Communities

and also

Chess in the Schools and Communities Conference (CISCCON)

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/rowangroup/cisccon.shtml

These appear to be initiatives that the ECFs Chess for Schools should integrate with?

Maybe they already are?

I believe that the ECF has been invited to attend these events in the past and has chosen not to. It does look very interesting and perhaps it is a shame that the ECF has had other priorities. I am sure that you would be able to attend, but you might have to finance it yourself!

This conference is from 2007, I take it's run annually rather then a one-off? Also the link that says 'see also the CISCON Website' doesnt work for me.

Matthew Turner wrote:I believe that the ECF has been invited to attend these events in the past and has chosen not to. It does look very interesting and perhaps it is a shame that the ECF has had other priorities. I am sure that you would be able to attend, but you might have to finance it yourself!

I agree : the CoM development team should attend the next one (when and where is it?) and the CoM budget does allow for expenses. I will enquire.

Judging by the Rowan Group website http://www.abdn.ac.uk/rowangroup/activities.shtml this was a one off conference,

I was one of the CISSCON Conference Attendees. It wasn't an 'Isn't Chess Great? We must get it in the school curriculum' sort of thing. Sadly it does seem as if it was a one-off.

There were speakers from all over the world, all with different stories to tell. These included Susan Polgar and Jonathan Rowson, but also included the social science aspect of trying to get chess widely accepted. Aberdeen was chosen because the city council had funded a full time chess officer and some part time assistants. I think this funding had now been curtailed/withdrawn. One of the surprises of this conference was that one of the speakers presented his findings that there is no direct link between chess and improved scholastic results - chess does NOT make you better at maths, science or anything. The Auusie contingent found that external coaches work really well at Primary Level, but at Secondary School the best results of uptake and continuation was achieved from within (ie the teachers/staff).

I had one interesting discussion with a set of guys from India who were presenting their model for chess tuition, which involved 1 supervisor and 6 chess coaches for a group of 24 students. It looked quite impressive, and then I asked them to map it to a typical situation that I find myself in - 0 supervisors, 1 chess 'coach' and up to 30 pupils. After a brief discussion they conceded that my situation means that limited chess development will be achieved. However, that's OK by me - my intent is that the pupils leave Primary School with a basic knowledge of the game and an attitude of respect for others.

Although not officially representing the ECF (I believe that's the case), David Anderton did stand up and give a small address/speech at the closing dinner at the conference. After the dinner a gang of the attendees descended on an Aberdeen Pub and several keenly fought games were played into the early hours.

I think the main lesson I learned was that the only real way to succeed in spreading the word is to get more troops on the ground working in schools - something I'd hitherto only suspected.

I have a set of notes from the conference that I'd be happy to let people look at - I"ll be at the Junior 4NCL next weekend for a start.