Upcoming Chess Events

As aerobics is for the body so is Chess for the brain.

It becomes more powerful with exercise.

In the Venezuela experiment, “Learning to Think Project” scientist tested whether Chess can be used to develop the intelligence of children as measured by the Wechsler’s Intelligence Scale for Children.

The study concluded that the children showed an increase of intelligence quotient (IQ) after less than a year of studying chess.  Most students showed a significant gain after a minimum of 4.5 months. The general conclusion is that chess methodologically taught is an incentive system sufficient to accelerate the increase of IQ in elementary age children at all socio-economic levels. It appears that this study also includes very interesting results regarding transfer of chess thinking to other areas of study. (FIDE Report, 1984, p. 74)

Listed below are a group of recommended scholastic (or scholastic friendly) tournaments in the VA-DC-MD area. Recommended from Snow’s Chess Academy.www.snowschessacademy.com

The events are located in the Baltimore, MD to Richmond, VA area.  Playing in tournaments regularly will keep a scholastic players’ skill growing.

Girls you do not have to be a top level student of Chess to compete. Just get in the game and start playing. Most scholastic events have children of all levels competing.

4/26	ACC Saturday Action Plus	Arlington Forest United Methodist Church 4701 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22202	http://www.arlingtonchessclub.com
4/27	CAC Sunday April Scholastic	Capital Area Chess, 4451 Brookfield Corporate Dr., Suite # 201, Chantilly, VA 20151	www.CapitalAreachess.com
4/25-26 or 4/25-27	60th Annual Maryland Open	Rockville Hilton, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville MD, 20852	http://themdopen.com
May 2014
5/3	DC Girls Open	US Chess Center, 410 8th street. NW, Washington, D.C, 20004	www.chessctr.org./girls.php
5/4	Metro First Sunday Quads	US Chess Center, 410 8th street. NW, Washington, D.C, 20004	www.chessctr.org./quads.php
5/10	Kingstowne Quad /Action-Plus	Kingstowne Thompson Center, 6090 Kingstowne Village Parkway, Alexandria VA 22315	dm407_92@hotmail.com
5/11	Ashburn Chess Club Scholastic Tournament	Ashburn Chess Club, 42876 Truro Parish Dr., Ashburn VA, 20148	www.ashburnchessclub.com
5/17	Spring Vienna Scholastic Tournament	Vienna Chess Club, Vienna Presbyterian Church 124 Park St. NE Vienna VA, 22180	www.Viennachessclub.com
5/17	McNair May 2014 Scholastic and open quads	McNair ES, 2499 Thomas Jefferson Dr. Herndon, VA 20171	http://www.mcnairpta.org
5/18	CAC Sunday May Scholastic	Capital Area Chess, 4451 Brookfield Corporate Dr., Suite # 201, Chantilly, VA 20151	www.CapitalAreachess.com
5/23	ACC’s Friday Action Tournament	Arlington Forest United Methodist Church 4701 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22202	http://www.arlingtonchessclub.com
5/24-26	Cherry Blossom Classic	Washington Dulles Airport Marriott Hotel, 45020 Aviation Dr., Dulles, VA 20166-7506	www.cherryblossomchess.com
5/31	ACC Saturday Action Plus	Arlington Forest United Methodist Church 4701 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22202	http://www.arlingtonchessclub.com
June 2014
6/13	ACC’s Friday Action Tournament	Arlington Forest United Methodist Church 4701 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22202	http://www.arlingtonchessclub.com
6/14	Kingstowne Quad /Action-Plus#	Kingstowne Thompson Center, 6090 Kingstowne Village Parkway, Alexandria VA 22315	dm407_92@hotmail.com
6/21	ACC Saturday Action Plus	Arlington Forest United Methodist Church 4701 Arlington Blvd, Arlington, VA 22202	http://www.arlingtonchessclub.com
6/28-29	6th Annual World Open Under 13 Championship	Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington	www.chessaction.com
6/29	Ashburn Chess Club Scholastic Tournament	Ashburn Chess Club, 42876 Truro Parish Dr., Ashburn VA, 20148	www.ashburnchessclub.com

5 year old Sarah and friends competing at 2014 Chess Challenge event in Washington,D.C.

Using non traditonal Chess tools and techniques Girls are attracted to Chess

This is an interesting article I found that you might enjoy. For more information you can go to http://zoomchess.com/girls-assertiveness-kids-chess-prepares-girls-succeed-real-world/

Online Chess Learning for Kids Kid-Friendly | Proven Curriculum

Free Trial       Log In

Tour Pricing Funding Schools & Groups Blog New to Chess?

Share

Girls and Assertiveness: Kids Chess Prepares Girls to Succeed In The Real World

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Jill

← DIY: Start a Kids Chess Club at Your School

4 Move Checkmate (Scholar’s Mate) – How to Win Chess in 4 Moves →

Parents are selecting their kids activities with their eye on college admissions and career success, according to Hilary Levey Friedman’s Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture. This is particularly true for families raising girls. In it, she details the stunning divide between “girly girl” activities, like dance, and more aggressive activities, like chess and soccer.
The parents of chess and soccer girls frequently used the words aggressive or assertive when interviewed for the book. They are connecting the dots between these traits and future academic and earning potential. As one mom put it, “When I was interviewing [job candidates] at Morgan Stanley, if I got a female candidate–because it’s banking and you need to be aggressive, you need to be tough–if she played, like, ice hockey, done. My daughter’s playing [soccer], and I’m just a big believer in kids learning to be confidently aggressive, and I think that plays out in life assertiveness.”
The chess parents, in particular, actively use chess as a way to teach their daughters that they are equal to boys. “She doesn’t have any ideas about gender limitations and I think that’s a good thing,” proclaimed one chess parent.
Levey Friedman wonders aloud why girls are the distinct minority in kids chess, and draws the conclusion that the “aggression” turns girls off to the sport. However, soccer is an equally aggressive sport – and boasts three times the population of the Girl Scouts. So what gives?
Kids chess programs are typically held at the girls own elementary school – the very environment in which girls are valued and accepted for being “nice”. In fact, their survival in school depends on being perceived as “nice”, as detailed in Odd Girl Out by Rachel Simmons.
Learning to be aggressive with their own friends at school, through chess, is uncomfortable for girls at first. But eventually they accept it and learn to enjoy winning. The girls’ confidence starts to override the plague of “niceness”, which Simmons claims is to blame for the suffering of girls in their peer relationships and causes depression, anxiety, and worse (suicide).
Great kids chess programs have girls. Sometimes as many as 50%. And those same programs have great coaches that deal with the “nice” issue head-on. It is not to be swept under the rug, but to be talked about as a group, where the girls can express their feelings.
Last year, 90% of the girls I polled in our chess club expressed that they felt uncomfortable beating a female friend at chess. These same girls characterized themselves as “nice”.
The other – and I believe bigger – issue is that girls don’t like being the only girl, as outlined in Louann Brizendine’s The Female Brain. A female lion will die without the acceptance of other female lions, and the human female brain is similar. Just last week, I received an email from a mom of a bright 3rd grader who wanted to join chess club…but discovered there are no other girls playing chess at her school, and therefore refuses to join.
This same scenario is to blame for girls self-selecting themselves out of the lucrative engineering field. The recent study by Girl Scouts of America indicates that only 11% of Engineering jobs are held by women, though 74% of girls are interested in STEM fields of science, technology, math, and engineering. Nearly half of all girls say they would feel uncomfortable being the only girl in a group or a class, the study found.
The simple solution: Girls-only chess classes. Let them compete against the boys during games, but allow them to learn with other girls. Give the girls their own coaches, just like soccer.

Girls and Boys think differently from boys. That's ok

Chess Girls DC believes that girls are not attracted to Chess traditionally because of male centered appearance. 

Pink is powerful.

At our office in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C. We play Pinkalicous Chess.

Chess Girls DC transforms traditional Chess Club into an Pinkalicous  environment.

Using nontraditional Chess tools, girls are more attracted to Chess.

Pinkalicous Chess club during the Halloween weekend was great.

Chess Girls DC and B'cafe supported the students at the Woodridge Library during the Christmas tournament.

The trophies were beautiful.

No Tea Party (oops) Chess Club meeting is ever complete without cupcakes.

With every meeting attendance by Girls increased.

Girls Get Ready Set Let's Play

Get Involved in Chess

As a mom of a creative talented girl it is my goal to create a community of passionate young women excited about playing Chess competitively and socially in a sport known to be male dominated. Chess develops mental abilities used through out life such as critical thinking, abstract reasoning,problem solving,pattern recognition,strategic planning,creativity, analysis, synthesis, evaluation just to name a few.

The mission of Chess Girls DC is to introduce young girls and women to the intellectual sport of Chess. In our group we want to expand on its usefulness in life’s strategies

Young ladies will gain the confidence and skill to compete socially or locally and in national tournaments that are rated and unrated by the United States Chess Federation. There are many college scholarship opportunities.

I was motivated to start Chess Girls DC because my five year old daughter plays very well for her age and has increased her ability to recognize complex patterns in math.  Many scientific studies have proven that Chess increases a child’s ability to recognize complex patterns in science and math.

Chess develops brain pathways and delays dementia in older adults by stimulating the brain. It promotes the development of higher order thinking skills which are considered to be of major importance in our education system.  In an age where our education system seems to short cut our children at so many levels, I wanted to start a community club using nontraditional supplies to share and teach the benefits that my daughter had gained learning to play Chess. At five years old, she plays chess, performs 3 digit subtraction, 3 digit addition, reads music, and plays the piano. She has the ability to focus very well and for long periods of time.
Please encourage your girls to learn to play Chess. Many of the local Libraries in DC have free classes.

Martin Luther King Library
901 G Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
Cleveland Park Library
3310 Connecticut Avenue
Washington,D.C. 20008
Dorthy Height/Benning Road Library
3935 Benning Road
Washington, D.C. 20019
Woodridge Library
1790 Douglas Street
Washington, D.C 20018
Northwest One Library
155 L Street
Washington, D.C. 20001

There are local organizations that teach Chess.
U. S. Chess Center.org
Chess Challenge DC.org
Sankofa Homeschool Community

Free online chess lessons at Chess Kids .com

Let's stay connected.
Contact Chess Girls DC if you want private lessons or want to design a Pinkalicous Chess group of your own.