It was a Moment de Gloire for the Netherlands as it got to witness the face-off between two of its brilliant talents at the grand finals of the Tata Steel Chess 2021 at Wijk aan Zee. For the Dutch soil, it ain’t new to celebrate chess.
With grandmasters like Max Euwe, Jim Timman, and the current No.1 Anish Giri, chess is prestigious for the ‘Netherlanders’ which is all the more accentuated by a new wave of “urban chess”. An innovative initiative by Jesus Medina is opening the Dutch schaakwereld (chess world) to urban public spaces in the Netherlands.
Jesus Medina: The One Man Army for Chess Propaganda
Jesus Medina Molina, is not one of those hardcore, born-for-chess souls who fell in love with the game early in life. Medina is self-taught in chess at the age of 46. A professional from IT & tourism, and a bachelor’s degree in Education, what attracted Medina to chess is its educational value.
Medina learnt chess through YouTube tutorials to teach his daughter the game to improve her arithmetic. His older daughter who was a primary school student was struggling with mathematics and the doting father and educationalist assumed that chess might improve her calculations.
His intuition worked well and the results showed the child's concentration and math skills. That was the Eureka moment for Medina that made him explore the immense capabilities of chess as an effective educational tool for kids.
To bring chess to more kids in a uniformly accessible manner, the sport had to be visible – out in the open – like any other physical game like skating, swimming or football. The realisation triggered Medina to come up with the concept of “Urban Chess” in 2018. It was a social initiative to bring chess to public places: in city parks, schoolyards or city squares, to make it more visible and accessible to everyone especially, children.
Chess & Education in Europe
Though Jesus Medina is one of the few who teach nations to exploit the potential of chess there are many initiatives in various parts of the world and especially in Europe to popularise the sport among the public. In 2012, the European Parliament adopted the Written Declaration of “Chess in School” for the European Union.
The declaration was based on the principle that the game of chess is capable of improving children’s motivation, concentration, and persistence at any age and instils in them creativity, intuition, and builds analytic and decision-making skills as well as memory. Chess also trains young minds in patience, determination, and sportsmanship.
Chess is also recognized to boost strategic thinking and creative problem-solving. The role of chess in building cognitive skills in children is well-known. Chess masters vouch for its innate nature of discipline and logical thinking, its quality to develop tolerance to failures, Math skills, etc.
The Netherlands isn’t the first to push chess forward to the arena of skill development and education. Many European nations have focused on chess as an effective educational tool for children in the elementary and preschool levels. Armenia is one nation where chess has been made compulsory as part of the school curriculum since 2011. Another country that is leveraging the potential of chess in education is Spain, where the sport has become part of education since 2017.
Also, numerous chess champions including India’s Viswanathan Anand, the current World Champion Magnus Carlsen and the Kasparov Chess Foundation (KCF) are putting efforts to promote chess in education across the globe.
For a better “schaakwereld” (chess world)
Medina believes that “seeing” chess more often will trigger the required interest in kids to explore, learn and take part in the game. Two and a half years later, today 27 municipalities in the Netherlands have welcomed the concept of public chess spaces, with endorsement from exponents like Judit and Susan Polgar and Anish Giri.
Jesus Medina is involved with every part of the urban chess propaganda. He believes that a structural approach to urban chess will help in fruitful tie-ups with government authorities. He not only advocates with the municipalities and city councils but also advises on financial aspects: on effective funding and promotion events. With the recent launch of chess tables in The Hague, Groningen and Dordrecht, Medina invites other countries also to take up the concept and implement it for their young generation.
Conclusion
At Mind Mentorz, we share the same passion with Jesus Medina in bringing chess to the forefront of public awareness as an effective educational tool. We tap into the potential of chess in cognitive skill-building to train the young minds for better mental and emotional focus and strength. With years of experience in engaging chess as an educational tool, today we are a premium chess coaching institute for kids in Bangalore. To know more call us at 9606847428