World Champion Magnus Carlsen to teach chess to young kids
(PRWEB UK) 11 June 2018 -- The new game, Magnus’ Kingdom of Chess, enables kids as young as five to learn the basics of chess by playing an adventure-style game on a mobile device. The game offers a completely different approach to learn chess, and to develop skills that will help young kids perform better in school, especially within the STEAM subjects.
The best digital teams within education and chess joining forces
The new game is the result of collaboration between some of the world’s best digital education minds from chess and math. Both based in Norway, World Champion Magnus Carlsen and his team of chess experts at Play Magnus, and DragnBox: a gaming studio globally acclaimed for its unique math learning games for children have joined forces to help unleash the cognitive potential of young kids.
According to CEO Kate Murphy of Play Magnus AS, chess is so much more than just a fun game: “Chess is a great tool for educating kids in a fun way. By practicing their cognitive skills, children will be better prepared for the challenges of school. With Magnus’ Kingdom of Chess we aim to teach kids the skills of concentration, focus, critical thinking, planning, and problem solving they will need to perform better in school, particularly within the STEAM subjects. At the same time as these kids are taught how to play chess by the World Champion, they are also learning and practicing valuable skills that will help them in school.”
Founder and CEO of DragonBox, Jean-Baptiste Huynh, is excited to bring their unique ability to make even the most difficult subjects fun and easy to learn, to create new, deeper learning experiences in the fascinating world of chess “Some parents want to teach chess to their kids but feel they need extra support. Many kids learn the basics but fail to understand its depth. At DragonBox we are dedicated to teaching complex subjects, such as math, in a fun and effective way. That's why we are thrilled to have designed a way so young kids can develop a solid foundation in chess.”
The World Champion himself, Magnus Carlsen, has been involved in spreading the interest for chess amongst children for many years, and is passionate about finding new ways to use chess as a fun tool to make the world a smarter place. “Chess is a great tool for educating kids in a fun way. With this new game we aim to both increase the number of kids who discover the fun in playing chess, and through chess, develop skills like problem solving and critical thinking, and the self esteem they will need to perform better in school.”
Kids who play chess do better in school
Research shows a strong correlation between learning to play chess and academic achievement. In a study conducted between 2013 and 2015 at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, weekly math lessons in primary school were replaced with chess lessons for one year. The results showed that the students actually ended up performing significantly better in math. The improved results had an effect equivalent to one third of school year's extra 3. grade mathematics education (Gumede & Rosholm (2015).
In 2000, a landmark study in the USA found that students who received chess instruction scored significantly higher on all measures of academic achievement, including math, spatial analysis, and non-verbal reasoning ability (Smith and Cage, 2000).
See list below for a list of literature exploring the positive scholastic effects of chess.
For more info, including requests for test versions and interviews, please contact:
Arne Horvei
Mobile: +47 90 66 22 49 (CET)
Email: [email protected]
About Magnus’ Kingdom of Chess
The goal of Magnus’ Kingdom of Chess is to provide the best possible introduction to chess on tablets for kids from 5 year old. The game does this by providing the most engaging initiation to chess by creating a joyful bridge between the initial fantasy of chess dreamt by young kids and the pure logical situations of the game. Through a smooth progression, kids will be introduced to each chess pieces in a consistent world. Step by step they will solve chess situations with more and more pieces, and apply more and more chess rules. Instead of facing an initial wall of rules and constraints, the kid will discover each of them in a progressive way in an engaging mood.
About DragonBox
Norwegian game design studio and pedagogy expert DragonBox is internationally famous for making some of the world’s most innovative interactive learning experiences. The DragonBox series of math games have won some the world's most prestigious awards within the field of serious games and have been featured in major publications like the New York Times, Forbes, Wired and the Guardian. The apps have been downloaded over a million times and teach everything from basic number sense to advanced algebra. DragonBox also develops complete teaching tools within mathematics for schools.
About Play Magnus
Play Magnus is using chess as a fun tool to make the world a smarter place. Chess World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, started the company in 2013 and is still the largest owner. The company has already launched two apps: “Play Magnus”; The world’s first custom-built chess engine, fine-tuned to play just like Magnus, and “The Magnus Trainer”; Providing engaging games and interactive lessons that make chess easily available yet challenging enough for players of all levels. Magnus’ Kingdom of Chess will be the company’s third app on the market. Currently, Play Magnus employs 16 people, and has over 3.5 million downloads.
List of research
- Gumede & Rosholm (2015) – chess in Danish schools led to Improvement by 0.16 - 0.18 standard deviation in maths scores.
- Trinchero (2013) – chess in Italian schools led to small but statistically significant improvement in PISA maths scores. Impact greater among students who had more hours of instructions.
- Gliga and Flesner (2013) – introduction of chess among novice children led to significantly improved performance in mathematics and language.
- Kazemi (2012) – chess tested among Iranian 5th, 8th and 9th grade students led to significantly improved maths ability and metacognitive capabilities.
- Aciego (2012) found among 170 students between age 6-16 years of age achieved significant improvement in problem solving capacity who received extracurricular chess instruction.
- Scholz, Niesch, Steffan, Ernst, Loeffler, Witruk, Schwarz (2008) – Chess can significantly improve the calculation and counting ability of children with learning disabilities.
- Smith & Cage (2000) – 120 hours of chess instruction led to significant improvements in academic achievement – maths, spatial analysis & non-verbal reasoning.
- Ferguson (1983) – study showed significant improvement through 1979 – 1983 of Pennsylvanian year 7 to 9 students in fluency (19.9%), flexibility (22.8%) and originality (70%)
Arne Horvei, Play Magnus, http://www.playmagnus.com, +47 90662249, [email protected]
Share this article