Only 500 others hold the rank around the world, including Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer. September found him at the gala opening of the Harlem Chess Center, which like the Dark Knights is funded by the nonprofit Harlem Educational Activities Fund. For the day, streets were blocked off and rows of chess boards lined sidewalks. Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis played and spoke with the kids. We were worried we weren't going to be able to take them all.
Studies show that young chess players raise their reading scores and concentrate better.
The game teaches strategy and consequences and instills confidence. Last year, every eighth-grader in the Mott Hall chess program was accepted at either Stuyvesant High School or the Bronx High School of Science, two of the nation's top high schools. At all the chess programs around the city, teachers place special emphasis on the girls, who tend to quit around the sixth grade. Until then, they do just as well, often better, than the boys. At the chess center, Esme Rogers' eyes sparkle as she beats New York University volunteers, even after giving them a three-minute handicap in speed chess.