The first-ever New Orleans Chess Fest teamed up with ChessKid.com in October. A full day of simuls, blindfold chess, “living” chess, and even an appearance from Paul Morphy capped a full day of chess.
Mike Klein, content manager for chess.com and chesskid.com and the headliner for Chess Fest, said important lessons can be learned from playing the game.
“In a chess game you can’t hide,” Klein said. “If you don’t know something, you’re probably going to lose and that child has to learn how to win gracefully and also how to take his losses well too. So I like playing up the personal responsibility angle of the game.”
Tisserand has also seen the benefits of playing chess. He talked about one student whom he found particularly rewarding to work with. “She said, ‘Chess is teaching me that my decisions matter.’ And that is one thing that I think chess teaches kids,” Tisserand said. “They have to decide every move. You know, what kind of game they’re going to play and then they’re going to feel the results right away.”