Boston Public Schools Launch Chess Program To Reduce Youth Violence

Organizers of Boston's new Chess for Peace program are using a board game to help kids develop enduring skills for life, including strategic thinking and conflict resolution. Their goals are simple but profound: to decrease youth violence and combat the negative impacts of technology.

According to a Boston Globe report, the Chess for Peace program offers free Sunday chess classes in the basement of the Madison Park High School gym in Roxbury. This program is affiliated with a Boston Public Schools effort that also includes basketball, boxing, yoga, rugby, and more to help engage and support students.

Cory McCarthy, director of student support at Boston Public Schools, said the program, branded as the 6-WON-7 initiative, was developed partially in response to reports about teenagers causing trouble at the South Bay shopping center and other areas during the weekends.

Chess instructor Ishmael Shaheed explained to The Boston Globe that chess is a mind game that mirrors life. He said the strategy of thinking before acting, as applied to the game, applies to life.  

Renee Callender, a retired Boston police detective who worked to create the program, said, “It's more than just a game. It actually mirrors life,” she said. “In the game of chess, like life, every action comes with consequences.” Callender got the idea to bring a chess program to Boston after watching a youth chess tournament on TV. She noticed how attentive and respectful the players were, and she thought that introducing kids to chess might help keep them out of trouble.

The Boston Globe also spoke with Rhodes Pierre, another program instructor. Pierre, who grew up in Mattapan, watched as his older brother was shot and killed in 1994 near their childhood home. Pierre began playing chess in college and came to understand the significance of the life skills it teaches.

“Giving people another outlet to express themselves without having to revert to violence, that's a good thing,” he said. “Making people sit down and think. It's a better avenue than what we have right now.”