Three years ago fifth grader Russell Ruff began playing chess and soon his whole class was playing in Mrs. Smith’s fifth grade at Polk Central Elementary.
His Big Sister (Big Brother Big Sister), Lynne Parsons, organized chess volunteers and a chess angel donated chess sets. That is how it all began.
Volunteers coached the students and soon they began to play with the sets in the lunchroom, and chess fever spread. The test scores for the class that year were outstanding, Smith said, attributing their excellence in part to chess.
Chess is a part of the curriculum in many states for just this reason. This is a game that teaches life skills such as reasoning and learning how to win and lose with dignity.
This year Smith asked the chess team to come back and have just finished another year of going every Friday for an hour and 15 minutes of instruction. Dr. Brian Crissey leads the team in conjunction with volunteers John Fischer, Michael Veatch, Lynne Parsons and Martin Zschocher.
This year a monthly chess club began meeting the third Saturday of every month at Morning Glory Farm in Mill Spring. The group met from 3 to 5 p.m. each month so kids that have an interest can start building skills.  If you know a kid who would like to participate, call Parsons at 828-894-5595.
The infectious enthusiasm for the game at Polk Central has encouraged Emily Bartlett to submit a grant application to fund chess instruction in each school in Polk County. If received, funds would also work to bring chess into the afterschool program.