by Jerry Neugarten and Eileen Schmakel

The ICA Youth Committee, appointed in December, began meeting in January and is at work on a number of projects intended to spur the growth of youth chess in Illinois. The formation of the committee is described in a December article in these pages by Tom Sprandel (Announcements, "Cooperative Effort Leads to New ICA Committees"). Short bios of the Committee's 28 members appear in the Youth Committee section of this website.

In one of its first meetings, the Youth Committee adopted a mission statement which states, in part: "Every child should have the opportunity to learn and play chess." This grew out of our belief that chess is beneficial for every child, and a concern that chess programs are not available to many kids who could most benefit from them. Much of our work is therefore guided by a focus on inclusiveness.

Developing web resources to foster program development. Our primary focus during our first three months has been on two goals: compiling information to make it easier to start new chess programs, and providing resources to existing programs. Some of this will be done in new sections of this website.

In "Learning Chess," we'll begin with the basics, including summarizing the research on the value of chess for kids. Recent studies in Philadelphia and Portland confirm the findings of previous research showing that chess improves academic performance, concentration, logical thinking, and social skills.

As the number of chess programs in Illinois grows, we anticipate a large number of new coaches who will need help in choosing a chess curriculum. We'll therefore recommend some of what we consider to be the best teaching material available, including hard-copy curricula, software, and internet-based instructional programs. We'll also describe other ways to learn chess or improve your game, including camps, workshops, classes, and private instruction.

In "Chess Programs," we will describe the types of programs which currently exist, including school programs, library programs, and community-wide umbrella programs. We'll profile some of them, with a focus on the nuts and bolts or what's needed to make a program succeed.

We're also at work on a section explaining how to start and maintain a strong program, and describing some of what we consider "best practices." Where outside help is needed, we'll include advice on how to choose a service provider.

Many young players thrive on competition. In our "Tournaments" section we'll describe the tournament scene, describing the types of tournaments and how they are run. We'll include advice for parents and players, a discussion of sportsmanship, and suggestions for tournament organizers.

We hear often that some programs get kids started playing chess, but provide little guidance on how to progress. We'll address this problem in a section called "Paths to Advancement," which will describe the vast playing field available to those serious about improving their game and moving up the competitive ladder.

We'll also describe the state's excellent Warren Junior Program, which provides special opportunities for the state's top youth players. In addition, we're doing a section describing ICA's new Fellows Program, in which top high school and college players will serve as coaches, mentors and tournament directors to help youth programs statewide. High schoolers who participate should be able to receive credit for community service.

Finally, in our "People" section, we'll try to capture the vibrancy of Illinois youth chess by profiling some of the people who make it work, including players, coaches, parents, and organizers. The section will include a "Hall of Fame" (a list of past individual and team champions) and a list of Illinois' top youth players.

Networking and communication. Youth chess in Illinois has been described as a series of disconnected islands. Coaches and program directors often don't know of each other's existence, even when their programs are next door. To foster communication and create more unity in the Illinois chess community, the committee is creating the capacity to communicate proactively with people active in Illinois youth chess, including coaches, club and team directors, and organizers. Those interested will receive ICA emails of events, announcements, web postings, and other chess news. We'll include an "opt-out" provision.

We are also exploring ways to make it easier for our website users to find their way to coaches and service providers. As part of this effort, we will continue to encourage coaches and service providers to become Affiliates, who are allowed a free website listing. Free six-month introductory Affiliate memberships are available, and the price thereafter is only $25 per year. Our website already receives nearly 4,000 visits from unique visitors each month, a number which continues to grow.

Increased visibility. In the past few months, viewers of this website have already seen increased coverage of youth events. We've simplified the mechanics of writing articles and contributing to this site, and will continue to bring new authors into this important effort.  Our Events Page has been revamped to make it easier to find youth and scholastic events. We are now not only listing more tournaments than ever, but have a popular new section listing camps, classes, workshops, and lectures.

Chess in Chicago. Eleven members of the Youth Committee have taken a hard look at the scholastic chess scene in Chicago, and compared it to other cities. While Chicago has a system of free open tournaments and popular championship events run by the CPS Sports Department for public school players, Chicago falls short when it comes to free instructional programs. Philadelphia, New York City, Miami, and Portland all have robust centralized systems designed to teach chess to kids in those cities' poorest schools without their having to pay. Saturation rates of instructional programs in Title 1 schools in a number of other cities exceeds 50%. While Chicago is fortunate to have a number of dedicated teachers and coaches in some schools, we lack a central program of the sort likely to generate high rates of participation. The committee is at work on a report with recommendations.

Leagues. Illinois has an excellent system of high school leagues ("conferences") covering many parts of the state. (See www.theicca.blogspot.com). Leagues facilitate school-vs-school matches and are a popular component of the competitive scene. At least one other city, Philadelphia and Detroit have set up leagues for younger players as well (www.phillyasap.org/Chess.aspx, www.detroitcitychessclub.com). Our committee is keenly interested in encouraging the expansion of high school leagues and fostering leagues for players in lower grades. We understand that transportation between schools is often an obstacle, and are looking at online competition as an option.

Reducing costs. There is widespread disparity in the cost of tournaments and instructional programs. Our experience is that chess is highly price-elastic. Where fees are reduced or eliminated, participation increases considerably. We think it important to keep fees as low as possible, especially during hard economic times. The committee will therefore continue to do what it can to foster free and low-cost programs.

Conclusion. We are proud to be able to work with a group of dedicated volunteers from throughout the state, who even before joining our Youth Committee had demonstrated their commitment to improving youth chess. We were helped, as we were being formed, by an excellent set of recommendations from Mike Zacate's Youth Task Force (http://il-chess.org/non_joom/minutes/2009-11-01-Report-YouthTF.pdf). All of us are appreciative of the consistent and strong support we've received from Tom Sprandel and ICA's Board of Directors.

Should any of you have comments or be interested in helping in any way, please let us know by emailing Jerry Neugarten at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Enthusiasm is running high in the committee. At a time when we seemed to be taking on more and more projects, one member sent us a note reminding us of Daniel Burnham's advice to "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood...Make big plans, aim high in hope and work." It appears that we are on that path.