Chicago and Ghana Form Online Chess Partnership for Youth
The Chicago Chess Foundation (CCF) and two partner organizations in Accra, Ghana have launched the Ghana-Chicago Chess Exchange, an online chess league uniting elementary and high school students on two continents for friendly competition and cross-cultural fellowship.
An inaugural cross-Atlantic competition is scheduled for Saturday March 20, hosting 30 Chicago students and 30 students attending various schools in Ghana. The five-round tournament will give students an opportunity for competition over the LiChess platform. More importantly, students will meet and bond in Zoom-facilitated breakout sessions.
The Exchange will continue with monthly tournaments for the rest of the academic year. Sponsors of the Exchange expect the size of the tournaments to grow over the next four months.
“Our goal as an organization is to offer children free opportunities to play chess and learn the important lessons this game teaches, including critical thinking, creativity and social-emotional development,” said CCF executive director Lee Lazar. “Our exchange initiative in Ghana broadens our goals, giving our Chicago girls and boys a chance to form friendships with children in another culture through a common affection for a game appreciated around the world for 1500 years.”
CCF’s partners in the cross-Atlantic exchange include Brothers and Sisters in Christ Serving International (BASICS), a community-based program in Ghana that promotes literacy, economic empowerment, public health and social inclusion. Students from the Ghana International School (GIS), an English language school with 1400 students from more than 50 countries, are also participating in the Ghana-Chicago Chess Exchange.
“Chess isn’t just a game, it’s a language,” said Patricia Wilkins, executive director of BASICS. “Our partnership demonstrates the power chess has to break down the barriers of age, race, culture and gender -- and a gap of 6,000 miles -- to forge harmony and respect across the globe.”
“We are blowing up the traditional classroom model,” said GIS counselor Lennard Lartey. “Our students may be separated due to geography and a global pandemic, but we are proving chess and a series of new technologies can nurture in-person learning, respect and understanding.”
Matt Kearney, CCF’s director of programming, convened a pilot tournament on Feb. 13 to orient students in Chicago and Ghana to the LiChess and Zoom platforms, and test the systems for technical hiccups. The pilot event proceeded smoothly with participation from 20 students at Chicago’s Gallistel Language Academy, George Washington High School, and Gwendolyn Brooks College Prep. The Chicago students were matched against 20 children from BASICS and GIS.
“CCF has had to adapt to an online competitive model during the Covid-19 pandemic, so I was optimistic about an online event with our international partners,” Kearney said. “We had to cope with a six-hour time difference and some internet connectivity issues, but the pilot demonstrated we could host a robust tournament together with a framework for cross-cultural goodwill.”
Participants attending the pilot event are looking forward to the inaugural competition March 20.
“Being able to play people from a different culture and country is amazing,” a Ghanaian student said at the conclusion of the pilot tournament.