The U.S. Chess Center teaches chess to children, especially those in the inner city, as a means of improving their academic and social skills. Most of our programs involve teaching chess to young people, sometimes at our downtown headquarters but more often at their schools or where they live and play. About 2,500 children each year participate in our once-a-week classes during the school year.

The U.S. Chess Center incorporated in Washington, D.C., in 1991 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The national U.S. Chess Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated at the Center in 1993.

The concept for the U.S. Chess Center started in 1989 when World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov came to Washington, D.C., to introduce the idea of using chess to battle drug use among children. That summer a pilot program was run in the Capital Children's Museum for fifty children from public housing. It received great reviews from the students participating, the schools the children attended, and the media. A local attorney, David Mehler, ran those first two weeks of summer camp. He is now the Executive Director of the U.S. Chess Center.

The following summer another series of chess camps for District youth was run at the Museum. Again, the program was a great success. Children from the camps started chess clubs at their schools. Teachers noted that students' behavior improved upon learning chess.

Feeling that chess could serve many valuable goals, several community leaders started forming the idea that was to become the U.S. Chess Center. The goals included:

• Improving academic skills and test scores.
• Increasing childrens' attention spans.
• Teaching young people that they have control over much of their environment, so that the decisions that they make will have consequences in the future, even if all of those consequences are not immediately apparent.
• Bringing together students from a wide range of backgrounds in a safe, fun setting.
• Increasing students' self-confidence.
• Awakening an interest in learning and achievement in students of all ages.

The U.S. Chess Center has offered a wide range of classes at the Center and through outreach programs where young people go to school, live and play. We have taught more than 25,000 children the rules, etiquette and strategy of chess.

We receive no government assistance. Much of our funding comes through fees we charge for teaching chess and from distributing chess equipment. We rely on private donations to make up the difference. Contributions are deductible to the fullest extent of the law, as we are a charitable, tax-exempt organization. Click on the link to see how you can help us out.

For more details about what we have done and where we are teaching now, please visit other pages of this website.