17.04.2018

Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, the head of Ingushetia: I did not know what chess castling was but my son told me!

This intellectual game began to be taught on a par with general educational subjects in the schools of Ingushetia. The programme is called "Chess in schools". This means that children learn the wisdom of the ancient game at the lessons along with mathematics, geography and literature. The project provides for the teaching of chess as a subject that stimulates the intellectual development of a child.

"We began to include chess in the school curriculum a year and a half ago," head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who enthusiastically supported the new programme, told Komsomolskaya Pravda.
"First, there were pilot projects in a number of schools in the republic. We saw that the students liked it and their parents, which is very important, even began to monitor the chess homework. Secondly, we did not just introduce another additional subject, but we discussed this with Rosobrnadzor, its head Sergei Kravtsov and with the Russian Chess Federation: how to educate students so that our temperamental children would be calmer and more diligent. Each school has its own chess section and we have a chess club "Adi Ahmad".
And yes, chess is one of the most accessible sports because an athlete doesn’t need to pay a lot of money. All you need are chess boards and pieces! By the way, there is also an electronic version of the game. Thus, starting as the pilot project, chess has nearly grown into a separate lesson. And now I see that many children are studying it. Special thanks to President of the International Chess Federation Kirsan Ilyumzhinov for his support.
By the way, my son, who studies in the third grade, once put out a chess board at home: "Come on, dad, let’s play." At the time, I did not know what chess castling was, but he knew!"