Melody Guyton Butts Michael Barley
Leslie King
TOP LEFT: Head of School Michael Ulku-Steiner presented coach Craig Jones with a plaque honoring his 12 years of leadership with DA chess. TOP RIGHT: With a rating of 1790, sophomore Eric Bradford is DA’s new individual record holder. BOTTOM: DA’s chess program is particularly popular with younger students, including Tate Duensing.
But Bradford, who has played since he was a Lower Schooler, has made chess a priority, and that devotion paid off on Sept. 20, when he passed the rating of alumnus Connor Labean ’10. Labean’s rating of 1764 stood as DA’s all-time individual record for seven years and five months. Bradford’s rating now stands at 1790. “When I was younger, in early Middle School and later Lower School, there was a really good graduating class of Upper Schoolers, which I think was one of the last groups of Upper Schoolers to really
play chess a lot,” Bradford said. “As a younger kid, I didn’t think that I could ever be like them. Breaking [the rating record] was I guess an achievement, but I’m really respectful of those people as well.” Jones notes that Bradford’s name doesn’t begin to appear on DA’s ratings leaderboard until late in Lower School. Over the years, his performance improved steadily — evidence of Bradford’s dedication and diligence in practicing and studying the game, he said. “Eric was little of a late bloomer, and
I think that’s kind of inspiring,” Jones said. “He has passion for chess. He loves chess. He has that desire to want to know, the passion to play. He’s done that through hard work.” For Bradford, the benefits of playing chess have been myriad. In his younger years, it was a great outlet for social interaction. And there are academic benefits as well. “I’d definitely say it’s made my mind a lot sharper,” he said. “It definitely opens your mind and makes it easier to think about things a lot deeper. Chess really trains your deep-thinking process.” Jones sees additional benefits in the game. There’s a certain “harshness” to it that can be beneficial for some kids, he said: “It teaches you very quickly when you make a mistake what happens. You get immediate feedback on your decision-making ability.” Chess also hones visualization skills and can bolster students’ confidence. And it’s one of the few activities in which boys and girls compete against one another from day one. However, fewer girls than boys generally participate in chess, and that’s a national problem, Jones said. It has nothing to do with ability or even student interest, he said; rather, parents usually drive the disproportionality, with moms and dads typically initiating younger students’ extracurricular participation. Bradford attributes his success to Jones, whom he described as one of the best chess coaches in the state: “He’s really inspirational to everyone who tries it. You can look up to him, no matter what he’s doing, because he’s a really good role model. If you just dedicate yourself, he’s going to get you there as long as you have the focus.” Jones’ former players often approach him to tell him what an impact chess has on their lives. If nothing else, “it’s a great memory,” he said. And if one practices enough, “chess is a great skill,” Jones said. “Mentally, for most people, it’s the hardest thing they’re ever going to do, and if they pursue it to a certain level of thinking, they’ll realize that.” At www.da.org/magazine:
• Read an article Jones wrote about DA’s chess program for the Summer 2013 DA magazine.
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