Throughout the years, we have met many educators from all over the world in our Training Courses and Discussion Group Meetings who are doing a great job with Chess in Education. We want to introduce their unique perspectives and share their stories that might be of interest and inspiration to others.
Meet Abel Talamantez from the USA
I first met Abel during the ECU101 training course, and it was immediately clear how deeply he understands both chess and education. As the Chess Program Director at Hamilton K-8 School, Novato, California, USA, affiliated with RISE Scholars, Inc. he has built a strong and positive chess culture throughout the years that uses chess as an educational and mentorship tool. His expertise, combined with his genuine care for the children, makes the program a happy place to belong and thrive, where students feel supported and grow together as a proud community.
Read his story →
Briefly describe your education and professional background
I have a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from California State University, Monterey Bay. I am also a FIDE International Arbiter (IA), FIDE Instructor (FI), and Lead School Instructor (LSI). I have worked as a chess educator and tournament organiser for the last 14 years. I was also the recipient of the FIDE 100 Best Educator Award.
How did you first become interested in chess? What was your experience with the game before teaching it?
I first became interested in chess at the age of 12 when one of my aunts gave me a chess set as a gift. I didn’t have any prior knowledge of chess, but I was fascinated by the pieces and the fact that they had different abilities. The rook was my favourite-looking piece. I began learning on my own and eventually found a local chess club, which introduced me to tournament play.
How did your journey as a chess educator begin? What key moments shaped it?
My journey as a chess educator began around 2011. After working 16 years in the health care industry in a job that was not fulfilling or impactful, I decided to follow my passion for working with kids and using a game I loved as a kid to create a business providing after-school programs in local schools.
Before that, I had never started a business or taught chess. I remember my first coach, and I were going to work at our first site, and he said he was eager to learn from me how to teach, and I told him it was my first time as well. If we were there for the kids and trying to inspire the love of the game, I knew we would be fine.
What inspired you to use chess as an educational tool? What motivates you to continue?
The big turning point in using chess as an educational tool came in 2022. I was the Chess Room Director at the Mechanics’ Institute in San Francisco, and I was approached with an opportunity from an educational non-profit called RISE Scholars, Inc. to lead a full-time chess program at a public school. Their goal was not to get kids into competitive chess, but to use chess to build grit, resilience, and improve social and emotional wellness in kids at a school where students were underperforming relative to their grade level. This connection between using chess to improve academics and provide mentorship was attractive, but I would be leaving a chess position where I could have conceivably retired from. After much thought, I decided to take the leap and take the job. That decision changed my life and has led me down a road of inspiration, self-discovery, and joy for mentorship and service.
What challenges have you faced in promoting Chess in Education, and how have you addressed them?
The challenges have been in changing the perception of what chess in education is and how you can make an impact. Where I live, chess in education is thought of as chess in a school, so people think it is a gathering of people at a school to make a club and play chess and maybe go to tournaments eventually. We have used chess as a tool that ties in to other academic subjects such as math, language arts, art, and history. We have been able to do it in a fun way for the kids to foster creativity and develop 21st-century skills. The kids have designed their own chess variants and mini games. The key here is that there are no expectations of trophies, titles, or even tournament results (though we do have a competitive team that does well).
By eliminating the focus on win and loss results, and making the focus on getting kids to look for and find the best move in each situation, along with making it fun, it has helped build a chess culture in the school where almost all the students feel comfortable learning and playing the game, rather than creating a competitive culture where many kids feel left out.
This approach has helped us build and promote the value of educational chess in our community, and we have gotten the attention of our local news and school district in our efforts, helped, of course, by combining it with a social media campaign.
How do you keep your teaching fresh, relevant, and inspiring?
It is helpful to have incredible resources like those offered by the FIDE EDU Commission with their Preparation of Teachers courses and with the ECU’s courses. Courses like these give inspiration and ideas for educators.
Which teachers, mentors, or training experiences have most influenced your teaching approach?
Michele Huff and Jay Ferguson from RISE Scholars have been very influential to my teaching for their philosophy of teaching as mentorship and about skill building over wins and losses and awards. Being involved with the FIDE Chess in Education Commission, Jerry Nash and Rita Atkins have been great colleagues to work with, and I have learned a great deal from them in discussing what chess in education means and how to make an impact in communities. I really do learn a great deal from the kids and see how mentorship helps the kids develop and grow over time, as players, students, and young boys and girls.
How do you continue to learn and grow as a teacher yourself?
I continue to grow as a teacher through a combination of professional development through courses offered by FIDE EDU and ECU, as well as through experimental learning in the classroom. We are not afraid to try new things, even as many of them end up not working out; it’s all the process of learning.
What other areas of personal or professional growth are you passionate about?
The area of personal growth I’m passionate about is the importance of instilling the value of grit in students and the importance of connecting with the local community about chess in education. I’ve been reading a bit about the subject of grit, especially Angela Duckworth, and I’m starting to see that previous conceptions of how to raise awareness about the value of chess in a classroom might be outdated. Before, people primarily focused on increasing test scores and academics as a measure of importance in integrating chess into schools. While this still has value, I think as important is showing the joy and camaraderie of kids playing and learning chess in great numbers, combined with educational chess activities and resources. We were able to create 2 middle school chess electives during the school day, and we were able to do it primarily from our social media campaigns, showing the active amount of participation of the student body in chess.
What are your future goals or projects related to chess and education?
I love working with the kids at school and seeing them develop year after year as players and as people. I also very much enjoy my work on the EDU Commission, as I currently oversee the FIDE School Award Program, which spotlights schools around the world that use chess as an educational tool. I would love to continue working with the global community of educational chess teachers and advocates to continue raising awareness, including working on a workbook of new mini games and variants with an educational component for developing educational chess educators.
How would you describe your teaching philosophy?
My teaching philosophy is mentorship first, best effort over results, and having fun while learning.
What teaching qualities or approaches do you believe are most essential for educators today to truly engage and support their students?
I think today, educators make more of an impact when students are allowed a more hands-on approach to learning. When students learn through playing mini games or playing variants or playing chess games, or solving puzzles, this much more reinforces creative learning than straight lecturing. Of course, there is time for both, but I’ve seen many teachers lecture too much, and students tune out. Learn by doing.
What are your main areas of interest within education, and why?
My main areas of interest in education are growth mindset and mentorship. Our goal in our program is to develop both through chess so that they can be applied to other areas of our kids’ lives.
Could you share a memorable or proud moment from your chess teaching journey?
I remember one student who graduated from high school this year. When I first came to the school, she really struggled with self-confidence and was afraid to play against stronger players. Last year, she was playing in an all-girls tournament and went into the last round needing a win to reach 2nd or 3rd place. The tournament organiser took a video of the game, and she rallied from being down material to eventually checkmating her opponent in a king and rook vs king ending off a pattern we learned in class. She now had to apply it during a game with time running out, and she did it with 3 seconds left. Moments like that are special, and what made it special was not the win but that it represented a change in mindset and confidence that had grown over time. I still have that video.
What positive effects have you observed on students’ learning chess (e.g., life skills, academic, social)?
The positive effects of our chess program in our community are immense. It is a community where students, for the most part, struggle to be at grade level and where there are negative outside influences for students, such as gangs. Our chess program has given students something productive to be a part of and take pride in. I’ve seen students who may otherwise have associated with the wrong group of people engage in chess and incorporate life skills into other areas, like athletics and academics.
What is the most valuable life lesson chess has taught you personally?
The most valuable life lesson chess has taught me personally is to follow your passion, because it is through that you can shine the brightest. I gave up a career in healthcare to follow my passion for chess without any kind of guarantee that it would lead me to where I am now. When I talk about our program and school and the value of chess in education, I think I naturally am fired up and motivated, and I think that energy is felt by those listening. I certainly didn’t have that same kind of energy when I was talking about healthcare or many other jobs I’ve ever had. Along that journey, I’ve learned that the impact you can make through chess can be lifelong lasting for students, and that for me has been the greatest reward.
What values do you hope to pass on to the next generation through your work?
I hope to continue spreading the message that chess teaching should have a mentorship approach if it is to be quality. If that’s the legacy I can leave behind, then my mission is accomplished. You must use chess to care about the student, not just as a chess student.
Have you developed any unique programs, methods, or partnerships that others could learn from?
I haven’t developed any unique programs, but we always look to partner with other programs for collaborations. We recently had a match with another local school in person, and we have held online matches with schools from other countries as a cultural exchange. We also love community and outdoor events to showcase what we do.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to introduce chess in their school or community but doesn’t know where to start?
For someone who wants to introduce chess into their school, I would say just start. You don’t have to have everything you need; you don’t have to have experienced instructors to start, just start. I think one of the barriers to starting grassroots programs is that there’s hesitancy to begin because you think you need the right equipment, or you are unfamiliar with the layout for tournaments, or how to even teach chess, etc. But when someone just cares about kids, all you need to do is start and do the best with what you have and be consistent. Everything will grow over time, and there is no best way to get started… just begin.