Programme 380, Playing Chess in School (20-11-19)

Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

On this week's programme I bring you an interview with Liam Murray who is secretary of Ficheall, a network of teachers around Ireland who teach chess in primary school. Among the topics discussed and the resources mentioned are the following:

• Is chess a curricular or extra-curricular activity?


• What students learn from playing chess: developing their social, cognitive and mental fitness skills


• How he organises chess teaching in his own classroom, using the lesson plans on the website and adopting a “(mini-) game-based” approach


• Organising a school chess tournament


• Helping students lose and win gracefully


• Using a points system to decide who wins a game of chess with limited time to play


• Describing the game of chess (what is meant by checkmate and castling?)


• History of the game


• How chess compares to draughts


• How children respond to playing chess


• How Liam first became involved in teaching chess in schools when he was a student teaher


• How different children respond to learning or playing chess


• Playing face to face versus playing on apps or computers


• Children getting better at chess over time


• The “Masters” competition (for fifth and sixth class) and the “Budding Masters” competition (for third and fourth class).


• Children playing chess from first class onwards


• Why it’s good to play chess with players who are better than you (“If you’re not losing, you’re not learning”)


• Resources available on the Ficheall website


• The Ficheall network of teachers


• How inter-school chess tournaments are organised (the “Swiss System, ” timing games)


• The role of chess arbiters in inter-school tournaments


• Relationship of Ficheall to Moves for Life


• How Liam got interested in chess himself


• Follow-on opportunities for children to play chess


• Opportunities for playing chess in post primary schools (Leinster Schools Chess Association)


• The use of clocks in professional chess games


• What is school for/what are schools for


• Volunteering with Graham Jones and the Solas Project


• How he is inspired by the selfless dedication of teachers


• Evidence-Based Teachers’ Network


• Anseo podcasts


• Book Bounce by Matthew Syed.


• Book Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed.


• Book Bad Science by Ben Goldacre