“Chess is an art, a
struggle, a science, a war!"
Hello everybody,
We hear all the time of
football, karate, swimming lessons for our kid’s physical development. But what
about developing their brain? Does the brain need any “sport” activity in order
to improve his performances?
Would you prefer seeing
your kids spending hours in front of the TV or having a queen and a king as his
friends and spending nice afternoons studying the world of chess?
I believe that we should
always search for the right activity that catch their attention, find the one
that they would prefer as hobby or why not give them also a chance to win a
beautiful life doing what they love…
Russian Newspaper Vestnik Kypra tournament for kids
I love to introduce you
the world of chess: tournaments, lessons, hard work and pleasure; we will all
discover this trough the President of the Nicosia Chess Club, Mr. Vrahimis
Boulos.
We asked Mr. Vrahimis
Boulos some questions:
Izzy: I am very
happy introducing to my readers Mr. Vrahimis Boulos, President of Nicosia Chess
Club. I would like to know more about you, how and when you discover chess?
V.B.:
First of all I would like to congratulate you for the great work that
you are doing through your website and also to thank you for giving me the
opportunity to speak about chess in Cyprus and in general.
I was introduced in chess 10 years ago by a friend. He brought a
chess-set in a cafeteria and he wanted to teach me so he could play with
someone. As soon as I learned how to move the pieces I immediately loved the
game. I came home the same night and started searching for more information
about chess in the internet. I made an internet account in a chess site, and I
was so obsessed that I would play almost all the time when I was free. Then I
moved on and I bought some books and I started reading. You know, a big part of
chess is theory. It is like a study. You have to read and read and learn and
the more you learn the more you want to explore. It is endless. A few months
later I discovered the Nicosia Cyprus Cyprus
in all cities are non-profitable organizations and all the volunteer members
work mainly for one purpose and that is to promote chess for all ages all over Cyprus
Izzy: What are
the rewards and challenges as a President of a Chess Club in Cyprus ?
V.B.:
The reward is that you get to meet great people from chess. Especially
now that is becoming more and more popular in Cyprus Nicosia
Izzy: I believe
that chess could be a fascinating world for children. What age is the best to
start learning playing chess and how to could keep them motivated?
V.B.:
My answer cannot be just a single number. Most of the students of our
academy start at the age of 7. Every year we have some exceptional children
that start at 6. The biggest issue with the child’s age is the child’s ability
to concentrate during the lesson.
Izzy: Lots of the
studies showed that chess could help children by improving their critical
thinking, creative thinking, problem solving ability, improved patience and focus,
greater self confidence. Do you believe that all this is true? What did you
notice in your personal experience?
Nicosia Chess Open 2013
V.B.:
I believe it’s true, because many university researchers have shown it
to be true. I believe in scientific truth. It’s best to ask our children’s
parents whether such an improvement took place, since we don’t observe the
children in their school performance.
Izzy: Are kids
interested today in playing chess or we should first convince the parents to
introduce this game to them?
Cyprus Youth Championship 2013 under 18
V.B.:
Some parents contact us saying that their child is obsessed with chess
and they want them to learn it the correct way. Other parents are convinced
that chess is good for their child and want their child to start playing.
So my answer here is that both the kids and the parents should be
introduced to the wonderful game of chess
Izzy: Do you
believe that there could be a community of children players. Coming at the
club, spending time together could improve their social life and later on give
them a better way of spending more quality time?
V.B.:
I believe that what you described as part of your question is the ideal
situation. We are aiming towards that target. For this reason, we are trying to
bring the children closer, to a more relaxed environment, like in a cafeteria
playing chess. Usually chess tournaments are little stressful for the
competitive children. Many parents exchange phone numbers and meet on their own
time with their children for chess or for just some other activities.
Cyprus Youth Championship 2013 under 18
Izzy: We all know
that competition are challenging and give us beautiful targets. There are lots
of competition for the kids and what age you should be in order to participate.
V.B.:
In all of the chess tournaments for children, we divide the children in
age categories. So we will have groups of Under-8, Under-10, Under-12,
Under-14, Under-16 and Under-18. So a child will play with children his/her
age. This is an international practice. The most important competitions held in
Nicosia , in my opinion, are the tournament
organized by Nicosia
Municipality
Cyprus Delegation in the European Team Chess Championship Chalkidiki 2011
Izzy: One last
question. Do you have any beautiful story to tell us?
V.B.:
Through chess, I had the opportunity to travel with the Cypriot
national team and participate in the last European Team Chess Championship that
took place in Halkidiki Greece
as well as the last Olympiad that took place in Istanbul
I challenge every reader that never tried chess to go ahead and try it.
I also challenge all parents to give at least one time the opportunity to their
kids to get in touch with the chess. The Cyprus
Chess Federation is running chess academies for kids all over Cyprus
Once you get into chess and understand what all is about, it is really
hard to escape.
Once again, thank you for the opportunity that you have provided to me
to speak about our world of chess! God bless
Cyprus delegation in the World Chess Olympiad - 2012 Istambul
Izzy: Thank you
very much Mr. Vrahimis Boulos for your interesting ideas and for your work that
bring adults and children in the wonderful chess world.
Thank you very much for
your time,
Lots of sunny days from
Izzy the Cypriot Lizard!
Address:
ΜΕΓΑΡΟ ΠΑ.ΣΥ.Δ.Υ
Λευκωσία 4ος όροφος,
Phone: 00357 99
877 575
00357 96 449696
Web page:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/117197675046098/
(Cyprus Chess Federation on Facebook)
Lessons hours and days:
Fridays at 4:00 or at
5:30 (lessons are 1 hour + 15 min long)
Courses prices: 40
euro/month
Did you know the
benefits of playing chess?
-
By the time the students had spent about
60 hours on their chosen activities, the chess players were well ahead of the
others in several psychological tests, scoring almost 13 percentage points
higher in critical thinking
and 35 percentage points higher in creative thinking.
-
A study of 4,000 Venezuelan students
produced significant rises in the
IQ scores of both boys and girls after 4 months of chess
instruction.
-
One four-year study had students from
grades 7 to 9 play chess, use computers, or do other activities once a week for
32 weeks to see which activity fostered the most growth in creative thinking.
The chess group scored higher in all measures of creativity, with originality being their biggest area of
gain.
-
In a two-year study in 1985, young
students who were given regular opportunities to play chess improved their
grades in all subjects, and their teachers noticed better memory and better
organizational skills in the kids. A similar study of Pennsylvania
-
It improves reading skills - In an
oft-cited 1991 study, Dr. Stuart Margulies studied the reading performance of
53 elementary school students who participated in a chess program and evaluated
them compared to non-chess-playing students in the district and around the country.
He found definitive results that playing chess caused increased performance in reading.
-
It improves
concentration - Numerous studies of students in the U.S. , Russia ,
China ,
and elsewhere have proven time and again that young people's ability to focus
is sharpened with chess.
-
10. It teaches planning and foresight
-
Having
teenagers play chess might just save their lives. It goes like this: one of the
last parts of the brain to develop is the prefrontal cortex, the area of the
brain responsible for planning, judgment, and self-control. So adolescents are
scientifically immature until this part develops. Strategy games like chess can
promote prefrontal cortex development and help them make better decisions in
all areas of life, perhaps keeping them from making a stupid, risky choice of
the kind associated with being a teenager.