Check mate – clever chess charity bags innovation award

Wednesday, 10 July 2013 08:19

Malcolm Pein receives the Innovative Project Award at the Community Sport and Recreation Awards 2013 from HRH The Earl of Wessex and sponsor of the award Sam Franks from Hiscox. Check mate – clever chess charity bags innovation award A charity which brings chess into schools and communities has won a prestigious award at the Sport and Recreation Alliance's Community Sport and Recreation Awards. Chess in Schools and Communities was presented with the Innovative Project Award sponsored by specialist insurance company Hiscox. The award was presented to the charity’s Chief Executive, Malcolm Pein, by HRH The Earl of Wessex at St. James’s Palace in London today after the charity impressed the judges with their ground-breaking initiative over the past year. With studies showing a clear link between kids who play chess and improved concentration and educational attainment, Chess in Schools and Communities has doubled in size in the past year and is now operating in 200 schools up and down the country. Earlier this year the charity launched a unique project aiming to teach 20,000 children how to play chess in the London Borough of Newham and it has already advanced into many primary schools across the borough. Tim Lamb, chief executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, said: “This award recognises the blue-sky thinking that Chess in Schools and Communities has shown over the past year. “Chess is a cerebral activity and the people behind Chess in Schools and Communities have really thought big to take the benefits that chess brings to thousands of children up and down the country. “The judges were amazed at the scale and ambition of the project and it really is an inspiration to all other sport and recreation organisations in the UK”. Malcolm Pein, Chief Executive of Chess in Schools and Communities, said: “We are delighted to receive this award at the Community Sport and Recreation Awards – it’s proof that chess, the most enduring of games, first played 1500 years ago, remains a fun and stimulating pastime for the young generation even in the modern age." “With the £1000 prize money from the award we plan to give 500 of our most talented young chess players their very own set so they can continue to develop their skills.” David Sedgwick of the English Chess Federation said: “Chess in Schools and Communities is far and away the most important initiative in English chess in the last 15 years. “I’m delighted that their hard-work has been recognised outside the chess community and I am sure that this will spur them on to even greater success”.