PowerChess After-School Programs
Benefits of Chess and the PowerChess Program
Some of the documented benefits of chess instruction include:
- Improved cognitive skills (including concentration, pattern recognition, decision-making, algebraic and geometric thinking, problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and critical thinking)
- Improved self-confidence and self-worth
- Increased attention span
- Increased memory capacity
- Better understanding of choice and consequences for problem-solving…helps students realize that they are responsible for their actions and must accept the consequences of those actions
- Offers a logical pattern and critical-thinking system
- Provides competition, fostering interest and promoting mental alertness
- Offers a variety of quality analytical problems from which to choose
- Teaches good sportsmanship
- Improves communication through written and oral presentation skills
- Increases math and verbal test scores.
Source: Teaching Chess in the 21st Century: Strategies and Connections to a Standards-Based World by Todd Barwick.
PowerChess uniquely combines the expertise of US Chess Federation Candidate Master, Powell Walker, and a proven curriculum to help your students achieve these results. PowerChess balances the use of the ChessKids.com curriculum, which is 100% student-safe and student-friendly, with in-person instruction and competitive classroom tournaments. This format allows students to learn the foundational principles of chess in just a few weeks and then dive deeper into chess strategies and complex problem-solving. PowerChess students have gone on from my program to win state titles and compete in national tournaments.
For the Winter 2025 semester, PowerChess will offer once-a-week, 1-hour group classes in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas schools All registered students in a PowerChess After-School program will also have access to premium content on the ChessKid platform for additional at-home learning opportunities.
Available After-School Programs
- South Valley Leadership Academy
- Parley’s Park Elementary
- Odyssey Charter School
- Butler Elementary
Sunrise Elementary
- Peruvian Park Elementary
- Jeremy Ranch Elementary
- McPolin Elementary
- Madeleine Choir School
- Trailside Elementary
- Ignite Entrepreneurship Academy
- Mountainville Academy
- Utah Military Academy-Riverdale
- Dimple Dell Rec Center (Sandy)
- Draper Rec Center
- Holladay Rec Center
- J.L Sorensen Rec Center (Herriman)
For the Winter/Spring 2025 semester, PowerChess will offer once-a-week, 1-hour group classes in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas schools and Rec Centers. All registered students in a PowerChess After-School program will also have access to premium content on the ChessKid platform for additional at-home learning opportunities.
