The Ministry of Education has launched CHESS+ (Championing Excellence in Sport Skills), a new pilot initiative aimed at integrating chess-based learning into school education and encouraging the development of analytical and strategic skills among students. The programme has been rolled out in 30 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) across three regions, including 13 schools in Haryana, 15 in Uttar Pradesh, and two in Delhi.
The initiative focuses on using chess as an educational tool to improve students’ critical thinking, concentration, decision-making abilities, and problem-solving skills. Through a structured training framework, students will learn chess techniques while developing cognitive abilities that support academic and personal growth.
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CHESS+ has been launched in collaboration with the All India Chess Federation (AICF) and the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. Under the pilot programme, trained chess coaches and teacher-mentors will conduct regular sessions, while students will get opportunities to participate in chess competitions and skill-building activities. A monitoring and evaluation system will also be used to study the programme’s impact on students’ learning outcomes and overall development.
The government plans to use the findings from this pilot phase to expand the initiative to more schools, including additional Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and Kendriya Vidyalayas. With the growing emphasis on experiential and skill-based learning under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, CHESS+ is expected to support a more holistic approach to education by combining sports, logical reasoning, and intellectual development.
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