Chess and autism
Excerpt from 'Developing Chess Talent' by Karel and IM Merijn van Delft
Chess is a suitable sport for many children and adults with an Autism Spectrum
Disorder. Scientific research on this subject is lacking, also on an international
level. Experience indicates that chess stimulates social, emotional and cognitive
development.
A ‘super championship’ for Jaap de Vries
‘Mate’, Jaap de Vries (9) announces firmly. After an attack on
the enemy king, Jaap manages to score his third full point during national championships
for chess pupils in Gouda. ‘My rating is rocketing sky high!’, he
shouts.
Jaap de Vries
Jaap is not very keen on a conversation with a total stranger. But this changes
if he is allowed to play a game of chess with him. Then he talks incessantly
between moves. ‘If I play chess, I keep learning more and more. It’s
a fun sport, actually.’ Jaap wants to learn to play good chess. ‘This
is a super championship!’, he says.
Jaap is suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome. Because of this, he has few
social contacts. In between tournament rounds, he plays games on his Nintendo.
In fact, this is precisely what does allow him to make contact with other children,
who come to him to see what game he is playing. ‘If you share his interest,
he is open for contact’, his mother Annemieke has noticed. ‘These
games look individualistic, but for Jaap they are an opportunity to make contact
with other children.’
Jaap takes in sounds much more strongly than others, says his mother. ‘His
brain does not filter away these background sounds.’ That is why he wears
custom-made earplugs when he plays chess with other children. He keeps his kinetic
unrest under control with a toy snake that he can fiddle with.
Jaap plays chess every week, in the youth section of De Wijker Toren. Trainer
Jan Sinnige teaches a group of four beginners. ‘Jaap has a good contact
with the other children of the group, but not with children from other groups
of the youth section’, he says.
‘At the chess club he can gradually build up contacts’, Jaap’s
mother tells me. ‘He has no friends in the neighbourhood. At the chess
club he feels at home.’
Maarten Beekhuis: contacts through chess
In the coming season, Maarten Beekhuis (26) will make his debut in the second
team of Homburg Apeldoorn. He has an Elo rating of 2126. ‘I’ve been
playing chess for almost twenty years now. During a game I’m fanatical,
but I don’t study hard. I think that I like chess because I’m good
at it.’
Maarten Beekhuis
Maarten suffers from the classical form of autism. After a stay of several
years in the Leo Kanner House (a centre for treatment of young people with autism)
in the Dutch town of Doorwerth, he is now living in a protected housing unit
in Twello. There he works half-time in the public library. ‘The rest of
the day I’m doing everyday business like shopping and cooking. I also
occupy myself with the computer, I read, and I play Scrabble.’
As a chess player, Maarten has achieved some successes. He became Dutch champion
with the E-team of De Schaakmaat and with the lower school team of the City
Gymnasium in Apeldoorn. At one Dutch junior championship (under 12), he came
fourth.
‘I’m probably more self-involved than most people, but I like to
have social contacts. My autism makes this difficult.’ Autists take language
literally. ‘Sometimes people mean something else with what they say, and
I often miss that. That makes me uncertain.’
Autism occurs in different forms. ‘In any case, autism is hereditary,
and there are certain symptoms: in my case, a need for structure and clarity.
My perfectionism makes it difficult to separate main issues from side-issues.
And new things are scary for me.’
During a chess game Maarten is in his element. ‘I’m very good at
focusing. Via the health institute GGNet I play indoor soccer. That’s
fun, but it’s also hard. I am a slow thinker and I cannot size up a situation
at a glance: should I pass the ball or make an action myself?’
Tom Meurs enjoys strategic thinking
Tom Meurs (17) has Asperger’s. This pre-university education student
has been playing chess since he was eleven. ‘They needed a player for
the school chess team. So I quickly learned the rules, and it was fun.’
Soon he became a member of the chess club in Ermelo, and he joined the chess
camp of De Schaakmaat at the Open Dutch Youth Championship. Tom trained with
the Stichting Bevorderen Schaken Apeldoorn (Foundation for the Promotion of
Chess in Apeldoorn), and now plays in the second team of Homburg Apeldoorn.
His Elo rating is 2175. ‘I want to cross the 2300 mark within a year.
I train with IM Yochanan Afek for two hours every week, and via email with IM
Tibor Karolyi, with whom I have stayed in Hungary for a week.’
Tom Meurs (left) training with IM Merijn van Delft
Tom often doesn’t understand exactly what other people mean. ‘Sometimes
I attach too much meaning to it.’ An advantage of his Asperger’s
Syndrome is that he is good at concentrating. ‘Especially during trainings.
A disadvantage is that during a tournament I sometimes feel less at ease, which
is bad for my performance.’
In recent months he has taken up boxing. ‘That’s a strategic sport.
Taking blows, fighting back. You become self-confident, because you have to
dare to attack as well. It is very much like chess.’
The nice thing about chess, Tom thinks, is that it is a very strategic game.
‘It offers you full scope to apply all your understanding and your creativity.
You really have to work hard; analyse, make plans, look deeper than your opponent.’
Tom has a tip for chess trainers. ‘At De Schaakmaat they wanted to slow
me down when I had finished Step 4 in one week. Other children finish two pages
in a week, but a kid with Asperger’s, who is enthusiastic, can do a lot
more. Such kids should be allowed to go ahead.’ His social skills have
improved a lot compared with ten years ago. ‘Whether this is because of
chess, I don’t know. I’ve also learned a lot from the support of
my parents.’
What is autism?
Autism is a congenital neurological disorder. Symptoms are: limited social
skills, a need for structure, and problems with emotions, empathy, self-image,
language, imaginative powers and locomotion. Autists have trouble internalizing
sensory stimuli as a coherent whole. Autists often have a limited field of interest,
in which they can specialize strongly. To cope with the complexities of the
outside world, autists seek refuge in fixed habits and patterns. We speak of
the Spectrum of Autism Disorders. Category classifications are: classical autism,
MCDD (Multiple Complex Development Disorder), the Asperger’s Disorder,
and PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified).
Approximately one in every 200 persons has an autistic disorder. Boys suffer
from it six times more frequently than girls. The better their environment is
geared to their needs, the more autists will be able to develop their qualities.
Chess is suitable for autists
‘Chess is definitely a suitable sport for autists. The rules of the game
are clear, there is no physical contact, it’s nice and quiet’, says
Heleen Kers from Apeldoorn. Via Heleen, a dozen children of De Ambelt –
a school for special education – have joined the school chess club De
Schakel. ‘You can teach them in a normal way, but you must give them individual
attention. And the teacher must use straight language.’
In Putten, the ‘Foundation for Groundbreaking Talents’ organizes
chess lessons for young people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This
is done in cooperation with the local chess club PSV DoDo. Initiator Jacqueline
van den Brink: ‘They are often able to think very logically, and this
fits in well with chess. That game is very structured and surveyable. Autists
are often perfectionists. When playing chess, they have a grip on what they
are doing.’ The experience of Poulien Knipscheer, a chess trainer and
pedagogue from Rotterdam, is that as a trainer you have to express yourself
very clearly, and give a lot of information. ‘To autistic children who
learn to play chess, it’s better to explain everything in one go than
to introduce the rules and the exceptions step by step.’
Chess is a good means for creating mutual contact, is the conclusion of recreational
and leisure activities coordinator Wicher Struik of the Leo Kanner House. ‘By
joining this little club they belong somewhere, and that strengthens their identity.’
Peter Hamers gives chess lessons in the Leo Kanner House as a volunteer. ‘When
giving chess lessons to autists, your group should be small and surveyable.
You must state clearly what you are going to do during the lesson and you must
stick to that. Their mastering of the game adds to their self-respect. It also
makes them feel more appreciated.’
Four autistic boys between seven and twelve years old receive one-hour chess
lessons from Willem van der Hulst, who is on an Early Retirement Scheme, on
a weekly basis. ‘The most important thing is to have patience. Now and
then they are very busy and impulsive. You must tell them clearly what is expected
of them. Also, you have to motivate them, as they often find it hard to take
initiatives by themselves. You can see how much fun they’re having. I
have the impression that chess is very good for their development – intellectually,
socially and emotionally. It also gives them self-confidence, as they learn
to be good at something.’ Walk-in Centre InsideAut in Alkmaar has a chess
club. Many people with autism like to play chess and do it well, says professional
employee Carola Zwartjes. ‘It is safe and structured here. At a ‘normal’
club, people with autism often miss social association with other club members.’
The Australian IM Alex Wohl has trained the talented Trevor Tao in the 1990s.
‘You have to explain everything as simply as possible’, he says.
‘You should not assume that certain knowledge is present, or that something
will be understood. You have to check all the time if what you say is getting
across. With many autists you can communicate really well, but it’s different
than with most other people.’
Chess trainer GM Artur Jussupow working with young players
Developing Chess Talent
How to create a chess culture by coaching, training, organization and communication
By Karel van Delft and IM Merijn van Delft.
Translation Peter Boel.
Foreword GM Artur Yusupov.
The book is a translation of the Dutch book ‘Schaaktalent ontwikkelen’.
It will be published in April 2010 by KVDC, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Contact:
karel -at- kvdc.nl.
