NYC parents are pushing to level the playing field — between chess kids and student athletes.
The Citywide Council on High Schools on Wednesday called on the Public School Athletic League to recognize chess as a sport.
The PSAL currently oversees 25 sports in city high schools, from football, basketball and baseball to soccer, table tennis and double Dutch.
But the 1,500-year-old game of kings is not recognized.
“There’s a tremendous community of students yearning to play chess — and families that are supportive of it and having a team in every school,” said CCHS member Ben Morden, who co-sponsored the Wednesday resolution.
While chess has grown more popular since the pandemic, opportunities for high schoolers have dwindled, he argued.
The Big Apple is no longer home to major chess competitions it held in the past.
Just 200 high schoolers participated in recent state competitions, compared to 1,800 elementary-aged players.
The resolution, which passed by an 8-1 vote, cited studies touting the benefits of chess in the classroom, including the development of critical thinking, strategic planning, problem solving and neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to adapt).
“The game has completely changed my daughters’ lives, improving their academic performance and focus,” PS 11 mom Tara Murphy said at the meeting.
“My younger daughter in kindergarten was struggling with attention until she started chess. Her teacher noticed a remarkable change.”
And the game welcomes all comers, she added.
“My daughters have competed against children who are blind, some in wheelchairs,” Murphy said.
“My daughter played next to a child the other day who had an endotracheal tube and she played this weekend against kids who only spoke French from Canada, and they were able to communicate.”
NYC is home to young chess prodigies, including Nigerian refugee Tani Adewumi, who won a state championship at 9 years old, and Mariangel Vargas, who racked up an international rating of 1,300 just two years after her family fled Colombia.
Chess is indeed a team sport, said Russell Makofsky, who coached both kids.
“If we get high school kids engaged, we’ll give the kids in elementary school something to aspire to, to continue to play and care about the game of chess all while learning incredible life lessons,” Makofsky told the council.
Not everyone was on board for petitioning the PSAL to offer chess.
“I agree that chess is competitive and requires strategy, but I would offer that it is not a sport,” CCHS member Lisa Stowe argued.
“If we’re going to call chess a sport and have PSAL sponsor chess, then I think they should sponsor e-sports and video games.”
The recommendations will now go to the city Department of Education and PSAL leadership.
