Chess is to be made a compulsory subject in Spanish schools, The Guardian reports.
There is cross-party agreement that the move is a good one, with the Socialist party MP who proposed it claiming the game “improves memory and strategic capacity, teaches students to make decisions under high pressure and develops concentration”.
The Guardian reminds that Spain will not be the first country to build chess into the curriculum. Armenia long ago made it a core subject, with startling results for its national chess strength – they have won three of the past five Olympiads, an amazing result for so small a nation pitted against the might of chess superpowers such as Russia, China and the US.
