Running out of Chess Coaches

A reader in New Zealand sent me this link about a recent conference in Italy - the "World Conference on Chess in Schools", held from 25 - 27 February, 2009.

As far as Italy, where chess are considered a "sport" and included inside the National Sport Olympic Committee (in Italian: CONI), chess are also taught in the school but they are not in the essential programs of the morning. In any case about 200.000 children yearly follow the chess lessons. The request of learning chess in Italy is very high and sometimes the real problem is to find ... the teachers!