The game of chess involves a lot of thinking, calculations and problem solving. It is with this approach that Blessed Hearts Beran Academy in Saba Saba, Murang’a County started using chess to sharpen their pupils’ brains and help them in problem solving in subjects such as mathematics and sciences.
Four pupils from the school qualified for the Inter-School Central Regional Chess Championships on Saturday where they will meet other sharp brains from the region.
The four; Daisy Mwihaki, Julia Njoki, Yvonne Wanjiru and Thomas Nthenge qualified after triumphing over other participants in Murang’a County schools championships. This was the first time the school was participating in the chess competition.
Njoki participated in the under-12 years category while Mwihaki took part in the under 10 years group. Wanjiru and Nthenge competed in the under-9 years category.
According to the school’s head teacher, Rodierich Marando, they decided to use chess as a problem solving learning material in order to embrace the competency based curriculum (CBC). The curriculum emphasises the need for innovation through coming up with solutions.
“Chess helps learners study more effectively. It is not only a form of entertainment but also a learning process,” says Marando.
Of the four who will represent Murang’a county in the regional Competition of be held in September, Mwihaki is the most experienced.
The 10-year-old started playing chess while she was seven years old and in grade 2. She developed an interest in it after watching her parents playing the game. When they noticed her interest in it, they encouraged her to take it up and enrolled her in Murang’a Chess Club.
Since then, she has won medals and trophies in various competitions. She says that chess helps her in tackling other subjects such as mathematics and generally helps her in solving problems. She hopes to proceed to the nationals of the schools chess championship and to be a chess ambassador to young learners in Kenya.
“Since I started playing chess my grades have gotten better,” says Mwihaki.
Her teacher, Marando, himself an accomplished chess player, believes that chess is a way of sharpening brains. He says more schools should embrace the use of the game as a teaching aid, adding that it is not popular or well known as a competitive sport outside Nairobi.
However, with more and more primary schools embracing the game, he is optimistic that more schools will use the game as a leaning tool and recreation activity.
“Chess sharpens the brain and it involves solving problem through many different angles. It helps the participant to think outside the box and come up with new ways of approaching problems,” says Marando.
