Kurt Lellinger (* 15 March 1938; † 9 January 2017 in Trier) was a German chess teacher. He was regarded as the founder of school chess in Germany.

His life

Kurt Lellinger at the Dortmund Chess Days 2001
From 1976, Kurt Lellinger was headmaster of the school centre on Mäusheckerweg in Trier and introduced a school chess club there in 1986, which shortly afterwards became compulsory for all pupils there.[1] Lellinger was convinced that playing chess would help to train and strengthen pupils' skills. From 1986 to 2012, Lellinger was club chairman of the SG Trier. From 1993 to 1998, he was a consultant for school chess at the German Chess Youth, during which time he founded the German School Chess Foundation.

With the emergence of all-day schools, Kurt Lellinger developed the concept of the school chess patent, in which teachers and guardians learn how to set up, run and supervise a school chess group on weekend courses. This was first applied in 2003 in Finsterbergen in Thuringia. Since then, more than 3000 teachers have been trained using this concept.

Together with the University of Trier, he conducted a four-year study, known as the Trier Study. Two primary schools were compared, one of which offered school chess and the other did not. The study proved that chess can sustainably promote the development of children in many areas that are important for school, as well as in social interaction.

Kurt Lellinger died in Trier on 9 January 2017 at the age of 78 after a long and serious illness.

Honours
2004: Golden Badge of Honour of the German Chess Youth
2005: German Chess Prize
2005: Federal Cross of Merit 

On the death of Kurt Lellinger
by Jörg Schulz 
11.01.2017 -

"Kurt Lellinger passed away the day before yesterday in Trier after a long illness. He shaped the development of school chess like no other and was one of its driving forces for decades. Lellinger founded the German School Chess Foundation and thus enriched chess with a strong educational component. His Trier study was often quoted and is a model for the establishment of chess as a school subject in many schools. An obituary by Jörg Schulz...

German chess bids farewell to Kurt Lellinger, who died on 9 January in his home town of Trier after a long and serious illness.

In Kurt Lellinger, chess has lost one of the greatest driving forces behind school chess in Germany.

He was the German Chess Youth's school chess officer from 1993 to 1998. That is not a long period of time. And yet he had a lasting impact on school chess. From the idea of pure play, which defined school chess for decades, to the idea of education.

Kurt Lellinger was an educator through and through. And this was reflected above all in his thoughts when he spoke of chess in schools. For him, chess was a medium with which schools could better fulfil their educational mission. Chess could be used to train and strengthen many skills in children. He was convinced of this.

During his time as the DSJ's school chess officer, he founded the Deutsche Schulschachstiftung e.V. (German School Chess Foundation), of which he became the founding chairman and later its honorary chairman. The aim of the school chess foundation was to intensify direct contact with the ministries of education. He had observed that ministries of education reacted reservedly to requests from sports associations. He countered this with an independent school chess organisation, which should have nothing to do with match operations or association issues, but all the more with educational issues. Section 2 of the statutes states

(1) The ‘Deutsche Schulschachstiftung e.V.’ aims to develop and maintain the tradition of school chess:
Chess is particularly suitable for developing and promoting cognitive skills. The focus here is on spatial, systematic and principled thinking.

In addition to analytical thinking training, it promotes networked, holistic thinking, mastery of complex issues, organisational skills, deliberative judgement and well-founded decision-making.
Problem solving is becoming increasingly important in our society as more and more problems arise in a wide variety of areas. Chess is one of the few domains in which young people can systematically develop and expand their problem-solving skills.

His vision was a real foundation, as the name promised. He assumed that he would have to get support from everyone involved in schools and chess for such a good idea. The disappointment was great when he received virtually no support. The initial steps of the school chess foundation were arduous. But Kurt Lellinger was also characterised by the fact that he was not discouraged when he had an idea.

He developed the concept of the school chess licence in response to the all-day schools that were being established in the federal states. It was launched in Finsterbergen in Thuringia in 2003 with the first multiplier training course. Since then, more than 3,000 teachers have been trained in chess and chess teaching. The school chess certificate laid the foundation for the chess boom in German schools that followed.

However, his masterpiece was the scientific study known as the ‘Trier Study’ on the question of whether chess lessons in primary schools promote children's mental development.
He contacted the University of Trier and in a four-year study, two primary schools with roughly the same educational background were analysed. The Olewig primary school pupils received one hour of chess lessons per week in all classes, while the comparison primary school offered no chess at all. Kurt Lellinger came to an agreement with the university, commissioned the study, and now all that remained to be done was to find the funding. That was typical of Kurt Lellinger. Once he was convinced of something, it had to be put into practice. The how would then become clear. And that was also the case here. The German Sports Youth and the Nikolaus Koch Foundation in Trier contributed to the funding alongside the School Chess Foundation.

If the school chess patent is the foundation stone for the school chess house, then the Trier study is the foundation of this house.

There are many good studies on school chess around the world. But in Germany, it was the Trier Study that opened all doors for German education policy-makers and prompted many primary schools to include chess in their school programme. And all of them were able to confirm in practice what the study had found:
Chess emphatically promotes children's development!

Kurt Lellinger lived for school chess, he lived school chess. He did not allow himself to be discouraged by setbacks and lack of interest, right up to the top echelons of the association. I have rarely, perhaps never before, experienced a person who stood up for his ideas with so much inner conviction. He was wholeheartedly committed.

This also applied to his home town of Trier. I have fond memories of many tours with him through the Roman city of Trier. Never before has a city been presented with such enthusiasm. This applied to his faith and his commitment to the Catholic Church. It also applied to his club, SG Trier von 1877 e.V., and his work with the Rhineland-Palatinate Chess Youth.

One of those who have benefited from Kurt Lellinger's commitment and have not forgotten it is national player GM Georg Meier. He acts as an ambassador for the DSJ's ‘Golden Chesso’ award for voluntary work and wrote the following about his motivation for saying thank you to voluntary work:

‘I spent most of my chess youth at SC-Trier-Süd (today - after the merger - known as SG Trier). The soul, the driving force of the club over all these years and beyond was Kurt Lellinger. He is better known as the former chairman of the German School Chess Foundation, which emphasises the extent to which he was involved on a voluntary basis. Although his health no longer allows him to do as much as he would like, his work lives on: he introduced many children to chess through chess clubs in local schools, built up an association in which many others are now involved on a voluntary basis and which is a link for people interested in chess from a wide range of backgrounds from all social classes. His example showed me the value of volunteering, because every individual who volunteers helps to build something good that lives on and provides fertile ground for others to get involved.’

If you want to criticise something, then really only that he should have taken it easy, that he should have taken it easy, that he should have passed. But he couldn't do that. There was still so much to do, he still had so many ideas waiting to be realised.

Dear Kurt, we have missed you for years as a source of ideas and advice. We will always remember you. You have left a lasting mark on school chess." by Jörg Schulz