Kids learn life lessons one chess move at a time
Can you master life by playing a game? Damen Fletcher thinks so.
Fletcher created Train of Thought, a program that brings chess to kids from some of Los Angeles' toughest neighborhoods.
After CBS News aired his story in September, donations poured in — enough to provide every student a chess set to take home. It also allowed him to expand his reach to hundreds of thousands of students across the country and abroad, including virtually training chess coaches in Switzerland and Uganda.
"That's been a dream of mine to be able to have an impact globally," Fletcher told CBS News. "There are just so many children that stand to gain so much from the game of chess."
Fletcher learned to play chess when he was growing up in Compton, California. He left the city to attend college, but came back to find some of his childhood friends were in prison, part of gangs or had gotten into drugs.
"I just wondered, 'Why did I have such a different outcome?' And it was chess," he said.
Chess saved his life as a teen, he said, so he now uses it to teach life lessons to players like Andre.
"I really wanted to do this interview because I want thousands of people to see the big impact that chess has had on my life," the 12-year-old said.
Andre said he's learned to think before he acts out, just as he thinks before he makes a move in chess.
The lesson Fletcher wants people to learn from his story is that they can achieve their goals despite obstacles.
"You've got to find a way to achieve your goal despite all the obstacles that your opponent is going to throw in the way," he said. "I'm a knight. Knights in chess do not let obstacles stand in their way. No matter what, he's going to find a way."