The very well known actor Will Smith is a great chess player. He even starred in a film as a chess player too and often talks about how happy he is that his dad taught him how to play chess. Here’s a quote from him…

“It’s cool to play chess. My father taught me how to play chess at seven and introduced beautiful concepts that I try to pass onto my kids. The elements and concepts of life are so perfectly illustrated on a chess board. The ability to accurately assess your position is the key to chess, which I also think is the key to life.” He pauses, searching for an example. “Everything you do in your life is a move. You wake up in the morning, you strap on a gun, and you walk out on the street – that’s a move. You’ve made a move and the universe is going to respond with its move. Whatever move you’re going to make in your life to be successful, you have to accurately access the next couple of moves – like what’s going to happen if you do this? Because once you’ve made your move, you can’t take it back. The universe is going to respond.”

Will Smith – Actor

Chess really does provide children with the ability to stop and think about their actions before making their move. These are valuable skills to have on the playground as well as for the chess board.  We teach kids chess at our South East London chess clubs. <== click the link to find out more