This story is part of WTOP’s Small Business September coverage. Each week, WTOP will be highlighting small businesses across the D.C. region, along with financial, government and other organizations that help our small business community thrive.
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There wasn’t a phone or gaming device to be seen when dozens of students at Madison’s Trust Elementary School in Ashburn, Virginia, gathered for their after-school chess club.
And that’s kind of the point, according to Adam Weissbarth, founder of the Silver Knights Chess Academy, during WTOP’s visit to the after-school club.
Parents sign up their children, then Weissbarth’s Fairfax-based company provides coaches to teach the game in the first half of the session and the equipment so the children can play chess after the lesson.
“A lot of parents don’t want their kids on devices all day, and that’s a battle they’re often fighting,” Weissbarth said. “Chess, with a real board, and a real group of kids and a real coach, is a great way to use your brain to do something that’s fun that doesn’t involve a screen.”
At Madison’s Trust, younger children sat on the library carpet, surrounding coach Angela Hoffman, who explained the moves each chess piece can make. The older children sat at tables, fielding questions from Rachel Middleton, whose coaching involved more advanced strategies.
Weissbarth said Silver Knights Chess Academy teaches the games at approximately 350 elementary schools in the D.C. area.
‘It looked really fun to me’
“It’s fun, it’s a game,” Weissbarth said. “Kids do like playing sports and they do like running around and playing, but this is also a form of playing — they’re just using their brains instead of their bodies.”
Braden, a fifth grader, initially asked his father to teach him to play chess after watching his dad play with his sister. “It looked really fun to me.”
Like most kids his age, Braden also plays video games: “Roblox is more for fun. With chess, you can learn strategy.”
Part of being successful in chess is anticipating an opponent’s moves. Braden said it’s hard to predict those when children are just learning the game: “I usually see what my opponent does first, and then I make my move.”
Weissbarth added that he’s been obsessed with chess since he was 5 years old.
“The beauty of chess is that it’s relatively simple to learn the rules, but there’s infinite complexity to it,” Weissbarth said.
“I think what both kids and adults love about the game is that it’s hard,” he added. “And when you win a game, it really feels good and you’ve accomplished something.”
Asked how he feels as he’s cornering an opponent during a match, Braden said, “I usually feel happy, but I try not to show it, so they don’t notice that they’re in checkmate.”
The fifth grader said sportsmanship is important in chess, as in other sports.
“You don’t brag, or having bragging rights. I just shake hands and say ‘good game,'” he said.
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