When a chess team from UD’s on-campus College School took the top prize in the Delaware State Elementary School Chess Championship recently, attention focused not just on the winning youngsters but also on one of their coaches.

It happened that the coach, Yi Song, a doctoral candidate in the College of Human Services, Education and Public Policy, had won the title of Chinese Women’s Chess Master as a young teenager.

Song, from Tianjin, China, insists that her accomplishments have been exaggerated, although she admits that at age 14 she won the title—which she carries for life—and at the same time was ranked 10th best woman chess player in China. Between the ages of 10 and 14, she had won several youth championships in China and in Yugoslavia.

“It’s hard to predict the outcome of a chess game,” Song says. “It’s a good intellectual activity, a real challenge. When you’ve beaten an opponent, you feel a sense of accomplishment that is meaningful.”

She became a student at UD in 2002 and has been working with The College School chess team since 2004. In 2005, she won the Delaware Chess Association’s women’s championship and was second to Charlie Bouzoukis, who won the state championship.

Song is busy with her doctoral studies in educational psychology, cognitive development and instruction, she says, and can’t devote as much time to chess as she’d like, but she instructed The College School students once a week, teaching them strategy. Josephine Fish, with the Hockessin (Del.) Library Chess Club, is the team’s primary coach.

“Along with studying, I’m doing research on how high school students can improve writing skills,” Song says. “So, my time for chess is very limited. Working with The College School’s kids allows me to play chess and learn new teaching skills.”

The College School is a private elementary school on the University campus for children with learning differences.