Setting the Stage: Why Chess in Education Matters 

The Saturday, December 6 program opened with a continental breakfast and meet-and-greet, followed by a formal welcome from Sunil Weeramantry, Founding Director of the NSCF, and Michael Khodarkovsky, Executive Director of the KCF. They highlighted both organizations’ shared mission: expanding chess’s educational use through programs grounded in sound pedagogy, research, and deep understanding of how students learn.

The morning’s first talk, Why Teach This Rather Than That in Schools? Thoughts on Chess and the Justification Question, was delivered by Dr. Jeff Bulington of the Franklin Chess Center in rural Mississippi. Dr. Bulington addressed the fundamental question: why should limited instructional time be devoted to chess? He examined chess within what curriculum theorist Herbert Kliebard describes as the ongoing debate over what gets taught in schools. Bulington confronted the challenge of transfer—citing psychologist Susan Chipman and researcher Adrian de Groot—acknowledging that while chess skill is highly specific, de Groot argued that when taught intentionally, chess can develop “less specific and more transferable” skills in planning, decision-making, and strategic thinking. He emphasized combining “chess in depth” with “chess in breadth,” grounding programs in clear pedagogical purposes rather than claims of automatic cognitive transfer.

Games in the Classroom

The role of play took center stage in a panel on The Philosophy of Games and Learning Through Play, led by Dr. Troy Seagraves of Purdue University’s Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence (VRAI) Lab and FIDE Master Dr. Loren Schmidt of Heritage University. Moderated by Dr. Bulington, the panel examined how games cultivate curiosity, resilience, and experimentation.

Dr. Seagraves explored how games capture attention and foster task-oriented reasoning, allowing instructors to set learning goals while games motivate students to pursue them. A key distinction emerged between “achievement play” (playing for external rewards like status) and “striving play” (playing for intrinsic value, such as building friendships or developing skills). 

Dr. Schmidt examined feedback loops in chess, demonstrating how the immediate response to moves—paired with a community of interpreters who discuss and analyze play—creates the essential conditions for developing both chess skill and broader meaning-making systems.

Student Engagement and Teaching Methodologies

Alan Abrams, co-author of the blended learning textbook “Great Moves: Learning Chess Through History,” discussed placing chess instruction within the broader sphere of literacy. Then Mike Amori, who teaches alongside Alan at The Chatsworth School, showed how chess can be integrated with storytelling, and improvisation activities. Combined, they demonstrated that a well-designed chess program can simultaneously support literacy, creativity, and social-emotional development.

Matan Prilleltensky, Executive Director of the NSCF, completed this segment with a presentation on A Mastery-Based Approach to Chess Education. He introduced the Steps Method, a curriculum developed by Cor van Wijgderden and Rob Brunia that builds foundational knowledge systematically—teaching concepts like profitable exchange, safe attacking and capturing, and the four basic methods of defending—while keeping students’ attention focused on problem-solving itself. Prilleltensky addressed the challenge of “expert blind spot,” where instructors can organize pedagogy around chess structure rather than novice learning needs. He stressed that mastery is demonstrated not through memorized positions but through what students can apply in real games—the ability to transfer skills to new, similar situations.

Garry Kasparov: A World Champion’s Perspective 

In one of the conference’s most anticipated moments, World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov delivered a special address that connected lessons from elite competition to everyday teaching and learning, underscoring how educators can use chess to help students embrace challenges and constructive struggle. He reflected on how chess education—and education generally—will evolve as we transition from an era where all knowledge can be accessed from a cell phone to an AI-driven world where we can outsource even our thinking. Kasparov drew on his own experience learning chess from books and magazines that, when available, were shared among players in his city. He spoke about learning from his predecessors and contrasted that with today’s environment where players consult engines rather than trust their own assessment.  He then opened the floor for questions, engaging the audience in a lively discussion.