Spanish congress contemplates including chess in school curriculum

Chess could soon become a compulsory subject in Spanish schools after a non-binding resolution discussed in the Spanish Congress was passed Friday with the support of all political parties.

The main reason for the resolution, which was presented by the Socialist Party, is the perceived link between chess and intelligence.

Pedro Martin, the deputy who introduced the measure, said chess "increases strategic abilities and memory, teaches you how to make decisions under pressure, and foments concentration, among many other qualities."

"The financial cost is very low," he added.

The move follows the decision of the Catalan regional government to support studies into the educational benefits of chess by the universities of Lleida and Girona.

The study concludes students who learn chess at school also improve their scores in mathematics and reading as well as developing their intellect on several levels.

"We support teaching chess during school hours, as is in fact already the case at many Catalan schools with good results," said Carme Sayos, a Catalan deputy in the Congress. A similar program has also been introduced in the northern community of Cantabria.

The Popular Party (PP) highlighted the European Parliament had been in favor of introducing chess as a school subject in 2012 and pointed out that in Germany the performances of chess playing students had shown improvements.

PP spokesman Francisco Cabrera said chess in its current form was invented in Spain around 500 years ago, while no country has organized more international chess tournaments than Spain since 1988.

The next move into implementing chess as a part of the curriculum will be to take the question to the Sectorial Committee at the Ministry of Education. Endit