What may seem like a simple game of chess to some will prove to be much more to Meadowview Elementary students.

The new chess club, created through a collaborative effort of the Selma City school and Rural Alabama Research and Community Development Institute, has the potential to push those children to accomplish more than they ever have before.

The game comes with plenty of obvious benefits for its players, such as increasing their IQ and teaching them how to reason. What I’m most elated about is the life lessons this game will teach the young students.

Several of the students knew nothing about how to play chess prior to the club, which is expected with the group being so young. After weeks of learning, that is sure to change, as the students dedicate their time to mastering the game.

Throughout the learning process, these students will start to relate the strategic moves they make in a game to the moves they make in life.

Charles Robertson, with Rural Alabama Research and Community Development Institute, made a great point when he described how the game teaches it’s player significant lessons about consequences.

He said the students would learn that what ever move they make on a chessboard or in life was made by your own hand. Therefore, they must live with the consequences that follow those decisions, whether they are good or bad.

Simple lessons like that one are valuable in a world where so many like to blame others for their shortcomings.

Taking on the challenge of learning this complex game in itself will show the kids the meaning of determination. It will take hours of practicing that will require their concentration.

In the end, confidence will be among one of the most vital lessons chess will teach Meadowview students as they overcome any fears they may have of the game to become the experts we know they can be.

I appreciate Meadowview Elementary Principal Julius Shanks for being open to the concept of teaching young people chess. His willingness to allow Alabama Research and Community Development Institute to continue to promote chess through his school will benefit more than the young participants.

Those students have the potential to go on to compete against other schools outside of Dallas County. At that point, they will be representing our city, and we’ll be proud to root them on as they do so.

I can only hope that the Alabama Research and Community Development Institute will be successful in their effort to incorporate chess into more schools across the Black Belt region.