Story Highlight: Chess is a Sea

Chess at Three exists to tell fun and engaging stories that allow children to discover the world of chess all on their own and learn valuable lessons along the way.If you’ve ever eavesdropped on a Chess at Three story, you know that the lessons we teach extend far beyond the eight-by-eight grid of the chessboard. We emphasize skills and competencies focused on the development of the whole student, including executive function, critical thinking, empathy, planning, and emotional intelligence, to name a few.Today we’d like to take a moment to highlight an upcoming lesson series that contends with another far-reaching developmental skill: overcoming bias.“Chess is a Sea” will be released this fall to our private tutors and school partners. The story centers on Chesslandia’s CFO (Chief Friendship Officer), Queen Bella. One day, Queen Bella sees a sea monster leap out of the Endless Sea and she immediately decides she wants to play chess with him! Queen Bella’s core motivation is to be friends with everyone in Chesslandia and she’s never met this sea creature; she knows that chess is the best way to make new friends. As Queen Bella begins her quest to find the sea monster, LaGroovey, she encounters several other sea creatures who warn her to avoid him because of his forbidding size and appearance. This tests Queen Bella’s commitment to her overarching philosophy: that everyone deserves a friend. When Queen Bella finally gets to the bottom of the Endless Sea she meets LaGroovey, who turns out to be, just like anyone else, looking for someone to play with.One of the most important themes of “Chess is a Sea” is Queen Bella's refusal to accept the bias of other creatures in the Endless Sea who only judge LaGroovey based on his looks. By the end of the lesson series, our students will see how an act of trust and a commitment to teaching can lead to the betterment of a whole community. Putting aside prejudice is shown to be the first step in this process, which begins to bring the disparate groups in the story’s undersea world into harmony with one another.Building relationships — not only with our students but with their families and within the community at large — is essential to a fair and equitable learning environment. To that end, we are proud to roll out a menu of new tools and systems that will help Chess at Three reach a wider community and offer the same opportunity for growth and empowerment to every child. From virtual classes that can be accessed from classrooms and homes, to curriculum licensing and teacher training, to our growing library of video lessons, we now have the ability to meet schools and families at any budget. We at Chess at Three think chess is an incredible tool for humanity because it really doesn’t matter who you are: if you want to have fun and work hard, chess can provide an amazing, stimulating, and welcoming community.