Chess Fever Sweeping Armenia
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Hi everyone,
Here is an interesting article on how chess fever is sweeping Armenia. A lot of effort has gone in the campaign to popularise chess in the country. The national team winning the Chess Olympiad has helped as well. This article appeared in the Al Jazeera news site recently.
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.
Read more »Hi everyone,
Here is an interesting article on how chess fever is sweeping Armenia. A lot of effort has gone in the campaign to popularise chess in the country. The national team winning the Chess Olympiad has helped as well. This article appeared in the Al Jazeera news site recently.
Susie Hunanyan, 7, takes on a chess opponent in class in Armenia's capital Yerevan [Felix Gaedtke/Al Jazeera]
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.
Labels: armenia chess, chess in school
posted by Chess Blog Admin @ 9:37 AM
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