THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 19, 1995 TAG: 9502170208
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HOLLY WESTER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
LAST SATURDAY PROVED to be a grueling, brain-straining day for many area students, as chess players from all grade levels competed in the Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Championships.
Seventy-nine players from 24 schools gathered in the Bayside High School library to duke it out over green and cream colored chess boards. Ten Beach schools were among the competitors.
College Park Elementary won the elementary division, with individual trophies going to: Aaron Iacovassi - first place; Justin Zamorski - second place; Robert Golden - third place; and Chetwyn Jones, fourth place. Danlano Brown took the trophy for kindergarten through third grade.
Independence Middle School finished second in its division, and taking home individual honors was Kendrick Vaughan of Bayside Middle School, who took fourth place.
In the high school section, Bayside took second to Chesapeake's Great Bridge, losing by a narrow margin - one-half of a point. Jim Pepiot and Matt Bland of Bayside, won third and fourth place, respectively.
While some of these schools have just recently joined the chess scene, others have had teams for many years.
Chess has been at Bayside for eight years, and German teacher Mark Bland has coached it from the beginning. This year, however, has been different from the past.
After five years of trying to create a chess class, Bland applied for a $4,000 ``Student Success Grant'' from The National Foundation for the Improvement of Education, a division of the National Education Association.
He received it and began teaching ``Chess for Cognitive Development,'' a one-semester, after-school course, which uses chess to improve students' self-confidence, reasoning skills, levels of concentration and overall academic success.
The first 20 minutes of class are devoted to instruction, where Bland discusses strategies, tactics and theories, while the remaining 30 minutes allows the students to get some hands-on experience with the game.
``Chess is a tool to develop self-worth and critical thinking. It teaches you that the consequence of a wrong behavior can be disastrous,'' Bland said. ``By doing that, it teaches you to become more focused. It's a constant learning experience.''
Besides these objectives, the course has other goals. ``I want to particularly aim it at keeping students in school,'' Bland said.
But since the class is only offered after school, and carries no credit, participation has been minimal, with only 12 students enrolled.
To increase involvement, Bland went in front of the School Board in January, proposing that the course should be offered as a half-credit elective during the school day. That decision will be made in March.
Nevertheless, the students who are enrolled enjoy the daily meetings - with some staying well past the 3 p.m. scheduled ending. ``I usually have to kick them out of here,'' Bland said, laughing.
Sophomore Mike Scarlott, 15, signed up for the class. He has eight years of chess experience behind him.
``It's fun because it's the only game in the world that doesn't involve luck,'' said Mike, who is currently the No. 1 player in the class. ``You get an entirely different outlook on life. It teaches you to think through things.''
Even though Bayside is currently preparing for the Virginia Scholastic Championships, being held March 11 and 12 in Spotsylvania County, Bland has his mind on other things - such as the future of chess in the city.
Since ``Chess for Cognitive Development,'' or some version of it, is an elective in many school systems nationwide, Bland said he hopes that eventually the course will become available to all grade levels locally.
``It's happening all over the country,'' he said. ``There's no reason why Virginia Beach should be the last school system to offer chess to the students.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos by HOLLY WESTER
ABOVE: Tristan Coulsting, 13, a seventh-grader at Great Neck Middle
School, competes in the Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Championships
at Bayside High. RIGHT: Bayside High chess coach Mark Bland gives
pointers to sophomore Kenny Vaughan, 16, as Don Christian, 15, looks
on during an after-school course.
Tiffany Johnson, 14, a freshman at Bayside, is one of many students
who stay after school to play chess for the fun of it, even though
she is not in the ``Chess for Cognitive Development'' course.
by CNB