6 minute read
LOCAL CHESS MASTER HAS NATIONAL AND GLOBAL IMPACT
By Bob Fitch
Elliott Neff is on a mission to impact a million kids a week, one game at a time.
“My business is teaching the game of chess to children Through the game of chess, we are teaching life skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, social-emotional skills and a growth mindset ” Neff’s business is Chess4Life which currently impacts 300,000 youth nationwide “In chess, there’s no losing if your mindset is ‘How do I get better from every one of these experiences?’ It’s a safe way to build that mindset It teaches problem solving, aligned with math skills from an early age."
Neff, his wife, Camilla, and their children live in rural Tea and he usually offices at Zook’s Coffee Bar He is a National Master chess player who has been teaching chess for 20 years . His father taught him chess as a child and he played in his first tournament when he was eight At age 12, he set a goal to become high school champion in Washington state At 15, he achieved that goal and was nationally ranked in his category He represented Washington twice at the national Denker Tournament of High School Champions.
Reaching his goal involved a deep commitment, plus the skills he was inherently learning through chess: Planning, patience, adaptability, decision-making, perseverance through adversity, being alert to unexpected opportunities, sportsmanship and learning from mistakes.
Initially, his business model was to connect with parents who had the means to enroll their children in selfimprovement activities such as martial arts, music lessons, coding lessons or after-school tutoring He was having success in Washington state and beyond, yet wanted to impact more children Recruiting enough chess coaches seemed out of reach, however “So, 10 years ago, the vision became ‘What tools do I need to build? What model will empower educators to help kids using chess?’ We built, tried, and tested different models.”
Chess4Life now offers multiple methods of delivery The company is about to launch a subscription-based platform that is a low-cost way to access videos, content and activities at four different levels, starting with beginners The platform already has content specifically for teachers.
The biggest success story for Chess4Life’s classroom curriculum has been with Broward County Public Schools in Florida Chess4Life has successfully aligned chess activities to the statewide K-5 math standards and is on the way to aligning with middle school math standards . More than 72,000 students are using the Chess4Life lessons in Broward County About 1,500 teachers in one district have been trained to incorporate chess into their classrooms Four middle schools in one district offer chess as an elective One school has a full-time chess teacher with eight periods of 40 kids each “What they’ve found is that chess supports attendance because the kids have fun with it.”
Chess4Life works with Boys & Girls Clubs, community education programs, youth detention centers, youth transition academies, libraries, plus runs camps and tournaments . “With Sioux Falls Community Education, we’ve helped introduce and grow interest to over 800 local kids in the past 18 months ” Neff was the lead organizer for this year’s South Dakota Scholastic Chess Championship Tournament in Sioux Falls, which welcomed 122 students in grades K-12, the largest number since 2006 His oldest son, Caleb, 13, is a two-time South Dakota state champion in his class Caleb teaches the game to other students.
‘THE COMMUNITY HAS BEEN SO WELCOMING’
So how did the Neff family of Washington state put down roots in Tea? About five years ago, Elliott and Camilla were looking for a country property for their large family, but were not having success because of high real estate costs When Covid hit four years ago, Neff wasn’t a fan of the restrictions in place in the Pacific Northwest, but the “open for business” message of South Dakota caught his eye He joked that the state’s location also aligned with the chess strategy of “move to the middle.”
They’d never met in person, but Neff knew of multi-time South Dakota chess champion Nels Truelson, who told him, “Come stay with me You’ll love it here ” The Neffs did indeed fall in love with South Dakota and, specifically, the Tea area “We found a church, we found a community We started looking at houses,” he said Extended family considerations delayed their move by a year, but three years ago they moved to an acreage here.
“Only three or four weeks after we moved here, I remember walking with my wife on a Sunday evening We didn’t feel like we were settling in We felt like we were at home . The community here was so welcoming And it also reminded me of my childhood in a small town in northwest Washington."
Camilla is a native of Alberta and was a professional musician, composer, singer and piano teacher She homeschools their children.
INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS
Six years ago, Neff published a novel called A Pawn’s Journey The forward to the book is written by Tim Crothers, whose own book formed the basis for the Disney movie, Queen of Katwe, the true story of a young woman in Uganda named Phiona Mutesi, whose chess skills help her escape poverty In the forward to A Pawn’s Journey, Crothers said “Nobody better understands the potential impact of chess in transforming young people” than Elliott Neff Crothers notes that Neff has worked closely alongside Phiona Mutesi and her real-life chess mentor, Robert Katende A Pawn’s Journey has received overwhelmingly positive reviews in the Amazon com bookstore.
After the events of the movie (but before the movie was released), Neff remotely helped coach Mutesi and her teammates in preparation the World Chess Olympiad He also traveled to the Olympiad in the country of Georgia as one of the team’s coaches He has formed a close relationship with Katende, whose advocacy for chess as a teaching tool has made a stunning impact in the Katwe slum of Kampala Katende described Neff’s book this way: “A must-read for those who desire to understand the power of learning through setbacks.”
Neff has supported Katende’s work by holding a chess tournament fundraiser and donating curriculum tools for a decade He also invited Katende to South Dakota in 2023 and introduced him to speak at Harrisburg’s Adventure Elementary where students experienced an “immersion style” integration of chess in most classrooms under the guidance of Dr Laurie Wenger Students were so inspired they chose to designate all proceeds from this year’s social impact project to Katende’s efforts to build a chess and STEM education center in the Katwe slum of Uganda.
Neff concluded, “I’ll think my mission is done when every kid has the opportunity to gain the benefits chess can help bring to in today’s world We need complex problem solvers, not just memorizers.
