“When it comes to schools, chess should not be regarded as just a game,” Reziniece said. Citing examples from previous work with children who have disabilities or are in refugee camps, she argued that chess can support foundational learning by strengthening attention, concentration, working memory, executive function, logical reasoning, and problem-solving.

Reizniece also reflected on the fact that education systems are already under strain and that adding more layers – such as the inclusion of chess – would be costly or inefficient. Chess, her presentation said, should be understood as “teacher support, not replacement or overloading” – not as another demand on schools, but as a structured tool teachers can use across subjects and classroom settings when proper training is in place.

The keynote also widened the argument beyond academic performance alone. Reizniece said chess can contribute to emotional control, resilience, respect for rules, and learning how to deal with both success and failure, which was demonstrated through programmes such as chess for people in prisons and correctional facilities. That gives it a place, in her view, in the growing policy focus on student well-being, citizenship, and social-emotional learning.

“Chess must be framed not as a game, not as extracurricular activity, but as a pedagogical tool,” Reizniece concluded, noting it addresses the problems education ministries are already trying to solve: quality, equity, engagement, teacher support, future skills, and cost.

What two psychologists found out by using chess in working with disadvantage children

Fernando Moreno and José Francisco “Pep” Suárez – psychologists from Spain – have dedicated their professional lives to persuading educational institutions and governments that chess is not just a competitive game but a tool and a metaphor for inclusion and teaching children real life skills.

Fernando Moreno is a psychologist who moved from Madrid to Washington in 1980s and spent most of his time working with children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Since then, he has been using chess as a tool to help children and their families channel grievances and fears, but also to identify emotions, regulate impulses, reflect on choices, connecting game situations to real-life behaviour.

Moreno starts from an important distinction: playing chess to compete and using chess as a tool for social-emotional learning. His focus is on the latter. Moreno argues that discussing positions, mistakes, sacrifices, conflicts, and consequences on the board gives teachers a way to talk with students about anger, frustration, self-control, empathy, decision-making, and resilience.

He linked his approach to established SEL language (specific vocabulary and communication strategies used to teach Social and Emotional Learning) where practical life lessons are taught through decision-making in chess positions.

Different chess concepts are used as metaphors for life lessons: piece sacrifice for a positional advantage is used as an example of giving up short-term pleasure for long-term gain; following the rules of the game (e.g. how to properly castle) is tied to attention, listening and discipline.

Reflecting on his decades-long experience, Moreno notes that “chess serves as a universal language that goes beyond nationality, ethnic identity, race, and gender, offering a way to connect across cultural gaps”.

“Chess has taught me that, despite our diverse backgrounds, socio-economic conditions, and languages, our thinking processes can synchronize in comparable ways when we strive for a common objective. Chess serves as a universal language that goes beyond nationality, ethnic identity, race, and gender, offering a way to connect across cultural gaps.”

“The Magic of Predictability”

FIDE Senior Trainer and psychologist José Francisco “Pep” Suárez, from Menorca, told the Chess in Education Summit in San José that schools should stop seeing chess only as a competitive game and start using it as a practical tool for inclusion.

Like Moreno, Suárez drew a sharp distinction between competitive chess and what he called educational chess which is “a tool to create people with critical thinking, capable of having autonomy, and above all, the power to understand the complex world we live in.” He placed special emphasis on therapeutic chess, which he presented as a way of using the game to support attention, self-control, reflection, and social development.

Suárez rejected the idea that chess is a universal fix for social problems, but said it offers something more concrete: “I don’t believe chess is a ‘magic wand’ that solves the world’s problems just by playing it,” he told the conference. “However, I do believe chess provides a perspective that is vital to me: empathic thinking.”

Suarez refers to chess as a “Gymnasium of the Mind,” – “It is not a cure… but a tool to help prevent certain problems because it fosters attention, visual memory, and strategic planning.”

The presentation focused on neurodiversity, especially autism. Suárez argued that chess works well in this context because it is structured, predictable, and easy to adapt, calling this the “Magic of Predictability.” By offering clear rules and a turn-based form of interaction, chess reduces ambiguity and helps students think about another person’s intentions.

Suárez also offered concrete activities teachers could adapt for ordinary classrooms, focusing on different areas of improvement such as spatial intelligence, frustration tolerance, teamwork, communication, and collective awareness of movement.

Suarez sees chess as a bridge to “real inclusion,” a form of cognitive and social training hidden inside a game. That point brought Suárez’s session into line with one of the summit’s central concerns: how to build models that teachers can actually use, and how to place chess in the service of schools rather than on the margins of school life.

Written by Milan Dinic