"Both hemispheres of the brain work in chess. Our task is not to grow champions but to improve the performance in other subjects," Ilyumzhinov stressed. He also said that chess lessons are held in schools of several countries (for example, in Armenia and Turkey) and such lessons have already been introduced in Chinese kindergartens.
Recall that on October 10, Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation Olga Vasilyeva, who had previously approved the initiative of Ilyumzhinov; during a government hour at the Federation Council, reported that a mandatory chess lesson will be introduced in the junior classes of Russian schools in the next two years.
Kirsan Ilyumzhinov supported plans of Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation to make school chess lessons compulsory.
"When I was head of Kalmykia and we introduced chess in schools, pupils’ academic performance increased by 40 percent. Children began to study better and to win prizes at Olympiads. Chess allows us to develop not only logic but creativity and imagination," FIDE President said.
