Police detective 'Cookie' uses chess to teach kids life lessons

 SEATTLE -- Students from Van Asselt and South Shore Elementary Schools participated in Detective Cookie's Urban Youth Annual School Chess Tournament today.

Seattle police detective Denise "Cookie" Bouldin uses chess to steer Rainier Valley kids away from violence. Throughout the year, she teaches anti-violence and chess at various Seattle public schools.

Elementary students participate in the Urban Youth Annual School Chess Tournament.

Bouldin uses the chessboard to show how the decisions kids make in chess resemble the decisions they make in real life. She talks of how joining gangs, using drugs or violence will impact their lives and take away their choices. The students are reminded that they are the kings and queens of the real world -- just like chess -- and there are consequences to their decisions.