Simplified: Elliott Neff has been playing chess since before he can remember. Today, the Sioux Falls father and business owner runs Chess4Life, which was recognized this week as one of only a handful of small businesses nationwide to receive a Gusto Impact Award.

Why it matters

• Neff founded Chess4Life in 2005 as a way to teach life skills through the game of chess. He relocated to Sioux Falls in the spring of 2021, after pandemic closures in his home state of Washington forced him to close his in-person classes and pivot to a digital model.
• Chess4Life is designed to help kids as young as toddlers start to learn basic gameplay skills with as few as one or two pieces. Along the way, they're learning practical skills like math, strategy, resilience and the importance of knowing every loss is a chance to learn.
• The Gusto award, which comes with a $50,000 grand prize that Neff said will help accelerate the mission of his business and scale it beyond where it was pre-pandemic.

"I think too many people who don't play chess think of it as being hard and complex and smart kids play," Neff said. "Whereas in reality, if you learn it the right way, it is not too hard to learn. And it can help kids develop the skills that allow them to achieve."

Tell me more

Chess4Life teaches not only through classes for kids, but increasingly, the business is tailoring its lessons to align with school curriculum. Chess can be a way to learn math, for example.

• Schools in Florida have adopted Chess4Life into their curriculum, and Neff hopes to see that expand to even more school districts and states.

Additionally, the business is bringing more opportunities for chess players in Sioux Falls.

• Neff is hosting the girls regional chess championship in April, as well as a free youth chess tournament in March. Learn more here about both of those events, as well as other upcoming tournaments and classes.

Neff has also taken his work globally – partnering with a community in Uganda to offer support for kids to learn chess over the last 14 years.

• That work has impacted more than 30,000 kids, Neff said, and he's working with POET's Seeds of Change nonprofit to develop a "Chess4Agriculture" program to apply chess lessons and strategies to agriculture.

Neff said his mission is to impact one million kids weekly, and his "why" in the work he does is about "empowering kids to enrich the world."

"I want to see a place where every kid in South Dakota has the opportunity to develop life and success skills," Neff said. "Chess is a vehicle that can help with that."