YEREVAN. - Armenia will make chess a compulsory subject at elementary schools.

“Teaching chess in schools will create a basis for the country to become a chess superpower,” Arman Ayvazyan, an official at Armenian Education Ministry told Agency France-Press.

The government decided to allocate AMD 177m to Chess Academy of Armenia. It aims at organizing chess lessons at Armenian elementary schools, publication of chess books and teachers’ trainings.

The government also allocated AMD 386,000 to the Armenian Ministry of Education and Sciences to buy necessary equipment.

Lessons are aimed at fostering schoolchildren’s intellectual development.