Henry Lien started playing chess at a young age; he estimates about first grade or so. The Strawberry native liked it enough to start playing competitively, but perhaps his biggest achievement was deciding to share his love of the game by finding a way to make it more accessible. So in 2018, when it was time to decide on a bar mitzvah project, an undertaking where Jewish youths come up with community-oriented initiatives, he began teaching chess classes in San Rafael.
“I thought I’d like to create something that wasn’t previously there and chess was my area of expertise,” says Lien, currently a freshman at Stanford. That project, now known as ChessPals, a nonprofit that offers free chess classes to elementary school students who lack access to chess programs, is still going strong today.
It’s no simple task for people so young to set up their own organization, but Lien had plenty of support, from his parents to local chess teacher Lanette Gordon. Grants have helped fund the program, but ChessPals will occasionally charge a small fee for some classes. “Chess programs are super expensive,” he says. “Usually they run about $400 to $600, but sometimes we’ll take about $20, if we take a fee at all. But that’s just to order chess boards, pay for subscriptions, things like that.”
ChessPals students have the opportunity to subscribe to the ChessKid website where they can practice and connect with other players online, while face-to-face gameplay comes through summer camps and after-school programs provided in different school districts throughout Marin. And one of the unique aspects of ChessPals is that all the teachers are students — primarily high schoolers, but some middle schoolers, too. Lien says this is helpful because it contributes to the mentorship dynamic he strives to create. “It’s not as though it’s a detached dynamic with someone a lot older. It’s someone who’s a bit older than you, who’s experienced, and you can look to them for mentorship and advice, too.”
ChessPals has since expanded to Davis and Berkeley, but there’s a goal to eventually see it in all 50 states. It’s on its way; the organization is setting up chapters in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming. This is the product of mutual outreach, Lien says, noting that while they’ll reach out to chess clubs about starting their own chapter of ChessPals, sometimes it’s the other way around. All it takes to get it started and keep it going are motivated students.
And it’s not just school kids who are getting lessons; ChessPals recently partnered with Vivalon in San Rafael to run classes for seniors. “It’s a great opportunity to keep mental acuity for seniors, but it’s also very intergenerational, which I think is really cool,” Lien says.
While the game of chess is plenty of fun, it also offers a bevy of benefits. “It’s amazing for cognitive ability and problem solving, and it’s directly related with analytical skills,” says Lien, who was recently named a finalist for the Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes for this endeavor. “But it also teaches you to be OK with your losses. When you lose at chess, it’s your fault — you can’t blame the piece for moving on its own. So, you learn to take accountability and take agency for what you’re doing.”
