Chess used to develop educational skills in the young
Chess player Karabo Mabela would like every child in South Africa to be introduced to chess.
The Way to Happiness Foundation, Holistic Synergy and chess player Karabo Mabela launched a chess coaching and jazz fund-raising event at the L Ron Hubbard Heritage House in Linksfield on December 1.
Chess coach Karabo Mabela has been coaching children as young as six years old since 2016.
Mabela aims to expand his reach to a greater number of schools in Johannesburg’s school district 9 of Yeoville and Berea, as well as through community development projects linked to housing developments, in 2020.
The event will see similar monthly chess and jazz events hosted at this venue throughout 2020, where aspirant as well as established players will be coached by Mabela and his team.
“Chess is a game with no barriers.
“People of all ages, gender, physical ability and social class can all play on equal terms.
“It has enormous educational benefits, giving participants intellectual capital and transferable skills, such as focus, discipline, concentration and strategic thinking.
“Evidence demonstrates that chess-playing learners significantly outperform their non-playing contemporaries in literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills,” said Mabela.
Mabela said he has witnessed first-hand how young chess players become more confident with enhanced self-esteem and are more able to organise their thinking and behaviour once they become devoted to the game.
Mabela works in association with Lebogang Maubane, who launched Holistic Synergy, a non-profit organisation working with juvenile drug prevention in Tembisa’s schools.
“Very often children are most at risk when they don’t have constructive social alternatives outside of their school hours. Chess provides that support in the most beneficial way and therefore is a natural fit with the work we do,” said Maubane.
