The Saint Louis Chess Conference has published program details in August listing a schedule of conference speakers and presentations.
Sessions run from Thursday through Saturday, October 24-26, 2024 at the at the Chase Park Plaza in Saint Louis’ Central West End.
Hosted by well-known organizations including the Saint Louis Chess Club, US Chess, and the Kasparov Chess Foundation, competitive chess feature prominently in the newly released program.
Keynote Addresses
Keynote speakers all hold grandmaster titles:
- Maurice Ashley
- Judit Polgár
- Gary Kasparov
Each has been extensively involved in the education of youth.
Judit Polgar in particular has played a prominent role in Europe’s Chess in Education (CIE) movement. She is widely regarded as the best female player in chess history. Since her retirement from competitive chess, Polgar launched a skill-development chess educational methodology, the Judit Polgár Method. It was developed for pre-school and primary school children in Hungary and was later used in China. Judit continues to collaborate with the FIDE Chess in Education Commission and other global CIE leaders.
Kasparov has played a major role in promoting competitive scholastic competition around the world. For those of us focused on educational chess, he has chosen an intriguing topic for his keynote address, “Chess in Education: Challenges and Advantages in the Age of Computerization and AI”.
Ashley is a noted author and chess commentator. He worked in partnership with the Saint Louis Chess Club and a team of educational experts to create a curriculum that covers the basics of chess instruction. The curriculum was designed to align with the Saint Louis Chess Club’s Instructional Standards and was piloted in several Saint Louis County schools. We look forward to learning more at the conference from researchers about the impact of this program.
Other Presentations
Plenary session topics include:
- Chess and Gender
- Cheating and Chess
- Training for Elite Chess
Concurrent sessions cover a broad range of areas where chess can or is having an influence, including several that promise to be of interest to educators. Among these are two by Jerry Nash.
Sponsors
In addition to the previously mentioned conference organizers, conference sponsors include:
- US Chess Trust
- full tilt ahead
- Twist & Shout
- Singuefield Center for Applied Economic Research (SLU Research)
- Waldorf Chess Club
- Prime Center (Saint Louis University)
- Chess in Education – US, publishers of chessineducation.org and the CIE Connections newsletter. We will be at the conference to report on events, and assess opportunities for the future.
