Chess is a good skill to master

My father loves chess.  We have pictures of me at two and three years old playing chess with him.  Evidently I knew the moves well enough.  I could make legal moves, but didn't really have a clue.  Evidently I did know the ultimate goal.  I would take turns "playing" chess with my father, and then after five or ten turns I would just reach over and take his king.

My father still loves chess.  He coaches a number of classes for schools in our area.  And he coaches the co-op my daughters attend.  My older two daughters will play each other, on their own, without any prompting.

Improved Math Scores Through Chess? argues that chess is a great game to master and will help in many facets of life.  The post starts:

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First of all, Math provides the building blocks and foundation that children will need throughout their lives. If you think that the basics are adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing - think again! Today, we live in an information age where it's reported that information is doubling at a rate less than every two years. The basic skills need to function in the workplace today are decision making, problem solving, critical thinking and deductive and inductive reasoning along with the ability to make judgements and good estimates. We haven't loved math but we've certainly loved our games. That's when Chess comes into the picture.
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Hat tip: MiaZagora via Facebook


Update I - 19 April 2011
Misty has a review of a Chess program that looks pretty good.