PHOTOS: Chess tournament attracts 150 kids

IOWA CITY - In a kid's world of Xboxes and PlayStations it can be hard to find your typical youth playing something that doesn't require a hand-held controller.

So what attracted nearly 150 children to spend their Saturday afternoon at Weber Elementary School in Iowa City sitting in front of chess boards?

“When one understands how to play chess it's true beauty,” chess tournament director Greg Schmidt said. “I think that's what draws them toward it.” Saturday's free chess tournament had kids, kindergarten through sixth grade, sitting behind 71 boards and 2,272 chess pieces. “Chess is just something for fun,” said Chris Low, a fifth grader whose father taught him the game while he was still in kindergarten. “Well, some people are here for the prizes but mostly I say playing others and learning strategies is the best part of chess.” Chess instructors love the enthusiasm from kids like Chris. They say chess not only gets kids involved in something other than a TV screen, it helps build life skills and showmanship.

“It's competition and we need competition, our kids benefit from competition,” Schmidt said.

“Once a round completes people shake hands like gentlemen.”

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