Montessori Mates Check Out Chess

Odysseus Szarabajka was stuck in a corner. His opponent, Malachi Antoine, had decimated his army, sweeping all but two of his chess pieces off the board. All Szarabajka had left to defend his king was one lonely pawn, almost useless against Antoine’s powerful pieces.

Szarabajka scratched his head. If he could just get his pawn to the board’s end, it would be transformed into an all-powerful queen. But Antoine was expecting that, and he’d set his own queen back to strike it before Szarabajka could ever reach the last square.

With few options, Szarabajka tried for the next best move. He walked his king right into harm’s way, close to the spots where Antoine had set his traps.

Feeling victory at hand, Antoine moved his rook over one row to deliver the final blow. But he’d made a last-minute mistake. Szarabajka’s king was safe on that square, but he had nowhere to move. It was a stalemate, ending the game in a draw.

“Want to play again?” Antoine asked.

That showdown took place at Elm City Montessori School’s Blake Street campus towards the end of an all-afternoon chess tournament.

Over several hours Friday afternoon, nearly 40 elementary-school students played at least four games each, competing for trophies, medals and wristbands.

The event was put on by two brothers from Hopkins School, Jake and George Wang, through their nonprofit Chess Haven.

Their work started at their middle school, Worthington Hooker, where they founded a chess club. ​“From there, we wanted to share our passion with other kids,” Jake Wang said. ​“We wanted to give back to New Haven especially.” Since then, they said they’ve brought the board game to dozens of schools, public libraries and even a refugee resettlement agency.

Jake Wang said he thinks that he’s seen students build up their ​“reasoning, focus and interpersonal skills,” all through the game.

To spread chess even further to schools across the country, the brothers wrote up a curriculum, which is posted online and distributed in bound booklets.

To help students remember the complicated rules, they wrote out a story about a king who’s under attack. For instance, Pawns, ​“loyal to the king, bravely marched forwards, without turning back,” and the bishops ​“use their sneaky movement.”

At Elm City Montessori on Friday, some of the matches veered away from the Wangs’s story and developed rules of their own.

Kings, which are supposed to move one space at a time, slid across the entire board, and knights, which move in a wonky L‑shape, conveniently jumped right on top of opponents’ pieces that should have been just out of reach.

Other students won their matches fair and square.

After winning all three games, Kingston Clark said it was the best day of his life. He planned to put his chess trophy next to a flag-football award at home. He said his dad would be taking him to Dunkin’ Donuts.

“I needed to use strategy to win,” he said. ​“Mostly I look at the board and see what’s next. I’m looking for a check or a way to take the queen. Or even a rook.”

Clark said that he’d gotten better after playing against his classmates, including Sam Duncan, who also won all three of his games.

“If I lose, I go back there and see that was the move I could have done,” he said.

At the end of the awards ceremony, the Wangs left Elm City Montessori with a giant wrapped present.

The teacher picked two volunteers to open the package. But after the first piece of wrapping paper was torn open, the rest of the class rushed forward, clamoring to see what was inside.

A few cylindrical objects popped up over the kids’ heads.

“Bowling?” one asked.

Horses and castles followed. The Wangs had donated a gigantic chess set.

“All 32 of them!” another said, quickly calculating the number of pieces.

The teacher said that once the weather warmed up, classes could play the game outdoors under the school’s gazebo. The kids broke into cheers.