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Training young minds Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Chess coach Bob Thomson helps Thomas Bowman, 9, left, and Andrew Larson, 11, with a move during a match at Washington Elementary School on Tuesday night. By Dani Dodge In the normal order of things, parents pass on lessons to their children. But at Tuesday night�s Washington Elementary School chess club finale, it was the parents that got the spanking. "My son beat me in two moves," wailed Susan Coghill, a blonde in a lavender angora sweater. Her son, Bryan Coghill, 12, just grinned big. "I like to beat people," he said. Like many of the 15 kids in Washington Elementary School�s chess club, Bryan wasn�t much of a player two years ago. But now, he can demolish his mom, and he�s even beat his dad, he brags. Twice. Much of the credit goes to Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Thomson who decided to start teaching chess at Washington Elementary School two years ago. Twice a week, Thomson races from the Medford federal courthouse to the west side school to work with kids, many of whom live in low-income single-parent homes. Tuesday, Thomson had to drive back from the federal courthouse in Eugene to get to the club�s final game of the year: the parent vs. child championship. (In Eugene, Thomson had been arguing to keep a man � who had been found with 32 kilos of cocaine � in jail until his trial.) "I can�t say enough about Bob," said Washington Elementary School Principal Stephanie Johnson. "He has a very strenuous professional job, yet, he�s given to us year after year. "The kids love him." Although the school has a variety of activities, from scouting to sports to music, it didn�t have a chess program before Thomson came onto the scene. "It�s fantastic for developing higher-level thinking," Johnson said. "The kids have to do problem solving, yet there�s no stress or strain. "He gives unconditional acceptance to any kid who comes in." Thomson, 51, moved to Medford from Portland in 1997 to become the first assistant U.S. attorney stationed at the federal courthouse here. It was in Portland that he first became interested in scholastic chess. Back in 1993, the U.S. attorney�s office there had adopted a school in Portland, and Thomson was assigned to help a fourth grade class. The teacher asked him if he could start a chess club. Sixteen kids joined. "I�d never been to a chess club," Thomson said. "I honestly didn�t know what people did in a chess club." He took a handful of kids to the regional competition that year. They got "whupped." "That�s when I realized I didn�t know anything about playing chess and I wasn�t teaching the kids much," Thomson said. "So I started studying how to play and how to teach kids." After that, his team started doing well enough at the regional championship to go to the state championship. The club expanded to 80 kids. Thomson said he expects the Washington Elementary School program to expand and grow also. He said the lessons learned in chess go beyond the obvious reasoning skills. The kids learn to win and lose gracefully. They also learn responsibility. "One thing that is really cool about chess is there�s no luck involved," Thomson said. "If they do well at chess or they do poorly at chess, they have no one else to blame." On Tuesday, though, it was surprised parents who had to gracefully accept the stinging rope burn of defeat. By the time pizzas were delivered, the kids had beaten their parents 17 to 12. Rob Larson and his wife Karla, who run the a nonprofit organization called Westside Compassionate Ministries, have all three of their children in the chess club. "We feel very blessed someone like Bob would invest in the children of the neighborhood," Rob Larson said. "He�s someone who wants the kids to excel." Their son Andrew, 11, went to state championships this year and ranked 21st in the state among fifth-graders. Andrew said the lessons he�s learned playing chess have extended to his classes as well. "I learned how to do strategy, and look and observe," he said. "And to think before I make a move." But most of the kids don�t do chess to develop some higher plane of thought. They do it because they like hanging out with Bob and because it�s "fun." Kevin "call me Mr. Kevin W. Lemon" Lemon, 9, actually said "playing chess is more fun than eating." Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.