Oakland's low-income neighborhoods are plagued with violence, juvenile delinquency and gang activity. Life is not getting any easier for these elementary school students from some of Oakland's toughest... but through the Berkeley Chess School, which teaches the game in 150 schools around the Bay Area, all the kids are learning chess in the classroom and teachers hope the skills they pick up at the chess board will help raise test scores. Berkeley Chess School's outreach effort aims to develop students' concentration, memory, strategic and critical thinking, plus the ability to make smart moves in their lives as well as over the chessboard. For almost all of these Oakland school children, this was their first chess tournament.
