{"id":44369,"date":"2026-03-21T19:44:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/?p=44369"},"modified":"2026-03-21T19:47:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:47:29","slug":"dana-reizniece-treat-chess-as-part-of-an-education-policy-not-an-extracurricular-activity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/dana-reizniece-treat-chess-as-part-of-an-education-policy-not-an-extracurricular-activity\/","title":{"rendered":"Dana Reizniece: Treat chess as part of an education policy, not an extracurricular activity"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

At the Chess in Education Summit in San Jos\u00e9, Dana Reizniece, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, spoke about how campaigners should approach policy makers to get chess included in educational programmes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Drawing on her own experience in politics and government (she served as the finance minister of Latvia from 2014 to 2016), Reizniece said advocates need to speak to policymakers in the language of public policy they are tasked with delivering.<\/p>

\u201cWhen you approach politicians, you need to talk about what they want to listen to. You need to tap into their problems and provide solutions for that. For example, if you want more children to play chess and bring more medals for the country, you should talk to the minister of sports, not education. If you want to improve chess education, then the minister of education is the right address\u201d.<\/p>

Reizniece pointed out the challenges governments face in fighting inequality and the role chess can play as a low-cost, scalable method that can support the quality of education and bridge the social divide.<\/p>

Governments, Reizniece said, understand in principle that education is a strong long-term investment (claiming that investment in education gives a return of more than 10% – on bigger wages of educated people, bigger taxes and lower expense on social welfare). But in practice decision-makers face hard trade-offs, rising inequality, uneven access, pressure on public budgets, and the challenge of reaching marginalised communities, especially across urban and rural divides. Quality, she argued, remains the key question where chess can provide an answer.<\/p>

Reizniece argued that chess can help address several priorities at once, as both an affordable and flexible enough tool to fit different school contexts while supporting multiple goals. A line from her presentation captured that approach: chess is \u201cnot a silver bullet,\u201d but it is a \u201ccost-efficient, scalable\u201d tool that aligns with several public education priorities.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\u201cWhen it comes to schools, chess should not be regarded as just a game,\u201d 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.<\/p>

Reizniece also reflected on the fact that education systems are already under strain and that adding more layers \u2013 such as the inclusion of chess – would be costly or inefficient. Chess, her presentation said, should be understood as \u201cteacher support, not replacement or overloading\u201d \u2013 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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

\u201cChess must be framed not as a game, not as extracurricular activity, but as a pedagogical tool,\u201d Reizniece concluded, noting it addresses the problems education ministries are already trying to solve: quality, equity, engagement, teacher support, future skills, and cost.<\/p>

What two psychologists found out by using chess in working with disadvantage children<\/strong><\/p>

Fernando Moreno<\/strong> and Jos\u00e9 Francisco<\/strong> \u201cPep\u201d Su\u00e1rez<\/strong> \u2013 psychologists from Spain \u2013 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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

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.<\/p>

Reflecting on his decades-long experience, Moreno notes that \u201cchess serves as a universal language that goes beyond nationality, ethnic identity, race, and gender, offering a way to connect across cultural gaps\u201d.<\/p>

\u201cChess 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.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThe Magic of Predictability\u201d<\/strong><\/p>

FIDE Senior Trainer and psychologist Jos\u00e9 Francisco \u201cPep\u201d Su\u00e1rez, from Menorca, told the Chess in Education Summit in San Jos\u00e9 that schools should stop seeing chess only as a competitive game and start using it as a practical tool for inclusion.<\/p>

Like Moreno, Su\u00e1rez drew a sharp distinction between competitive chess and what he called educational chess which is \u201ca tool to create people with critical thinking, capable of having autonomy, and above all, the power to understand the complex world we live in.\u201d 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.<\/p>

Su\u00e1rez rejected the idea that chess is a universal fix for social problems, but said it offers something more concrete: \u201cI don\u2019t believe chess is a \u2018magic wand\u2019 that solves the world\u2019s problems just by playing it,\u201d he told the conference. \u201cHowever, I do believe chess provides a perspective that is vital to me: empathic thinking.\u201d<\/p>

Suarez refers to chess as a \u201cGymnasium of the Mind,\u201d \u2013 \u201cIt is not a cure\u2026 but a tool to help prevent certain problems because it fosters attention, visual memory, and strategic planning.\u201d<\/p>

The presentation focused on neurodiversity, especially autism. Su\u00e1rez argued that chess works well in this context because it is structured, predictable, and easy to adapt, calling this the \u201cMagic of Predictability.\u201d By offering clear rules and a turn-based form of interaction, chess reduces ambiguity and helps students think about another person\u2019s intentions.<\/p>

Su\u00e1rez 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.<\/p>

Suarez sees chess as a bridge to \u201creal inclusion,\u201d a form of cognitive and social training hidden inside a game. That point brought Su\u00e1rez\u2019s session into line with one of the summit\u2019s 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.<\/p>

Written by Milan Dinic<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the Chess in Education Summit in San Jos\u00e9, Dana Reizniece, Deputy Chair of the FIDE Management Board, spoke about how campaigners should approach policy makers to get chess included in educational programmes. Drawing on her own experience in politics and government (she served as the finance minister of Latvia from 2014 to 2016), Reizniece said advocates need to speak to policymakers in the language of public policy they are tasked with delivering. \u201cWhen you approach politicians, you need to talk about what they want to listen to. You need to tap into their problems and provide solutions for that. For example, if you want more children to play chess and bring more medals for the country, you should talk to the minister of sports, not education. If you want to improve chess education, then the minister of education is the right address\u201d. Reizniece pointed out the challenges governments face in fighting inequality and the role chess can play as a low-cost, scalable method that can support the quality of education and bridge the social divide. Governments, Reizniece said, understand in principle that education is a strong long-term investment (claiming that investment in education gives a return of more than 10% – on bigger wages of educated people, bigger taxes and lower expense on social welfare). But in practice decision-makers face hard trade-offs, rising inequality, uneven access, pressure on public budgets, and the challenge of reaching marginalised communities, especially across urban and rural divides. Quality, she argued, remains the key question where chess can provide an answer. Reizniece argued that chess can help address several priorities at once, as both an affordable and flexible enough tool to fit different school contexts while supporting multiple goals. A line from her presentation captured that approach: chess is \u201cnot a silver bullet,\u201d but it is a \u201ccost-efficient, scalable\u201d tool that aligns with several public education priorities. \u201cWhen it comes to schools, chess should not be regarded as just a game,\u201d 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 \u2013 such as the inclusion of chess – would be costly or inefficient. Chess, her presentation said, should be understood as \u201cteacher support, not replacement or overloading\u201d \u2013 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. \u201cChess must be framed not as a game, not as extracurricular activity, but as a pedagogical tool,\u201d 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 Jos\u00e9 Francisco \u201cPep\u201d Su\u00e1rez \u2013 psychologists from Spain \u2013 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 \u201cchess serves as a universal language that goes beyond nationality, ethnic identity, race, and gender, offering a way to connect across cultural gaps\u201d. \u201cChess 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.\u201d \u201cThe Magic of Predictability\u201d FIDE Senior Trainer and psychologist Jos\u00e9 Francisco \u201cPep\u201d Su\u00e1rez, from Menorca, told the Chess in Education Summit in San Jos\u00e9 that schools should stop seeing chess only as a competitive game and start using it as a practical tool for inclusion. Like Moreno, Su\u00e1rez drew a sharp distinction between competitive chess and what he called educational chess which is \u201ca tool to create people with critical thinking, capable of having autonomy, and above all, the power to understand the complex world we live in.\u201d 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. Su\u00e1rez rejected the idea that chess is a universal fix for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[164],"regular":[],"sticky-post":[],"class_list":["post-44369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fide-news","tag-chess-in-education"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44369"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44379,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44369\/revisions\/44379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44369"},{"taxonomy":"regular","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regular?post=44369"},{"taxonomy":"sticky-post","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sticky-post?post=44369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}