Don't think I'd want to see chess on the school curriculum, but it would be a good tool for a teacher who could pull it off. Same with cribbage and other classic games. They're a valuable part of our culture. The nun who was our seventh grade teacher taught us knitting, and we had a great time of that. And I was in a harmonica band in the fifth grade, and have enjoyed (but not mastered) the harmonica ever since. But if such things are on the curriculum, they lose their feeling of spontaneity, and then they're no longer fun for either teachers or students.
-Joe-