First Moves / Chess news from around the U.S.
ALABAMA Space rockets, scholastic chess, and veterans. Read more about this event in Huntsville, Alabama (“Space City”) at
www.uschess.org/content/view/13226/141/ and also see other National Chess Day events not included on this page featured in our October archives. GM Alexander Stripunsky is pictured conducting the simultaneous exhibition.
FACES ACROSS THE BOARD
By AL LAWRENCE
DR. SUSANA VILLANUEVA EGUIA LIS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
“I am unable to imagine my life without chess.”
VIRGINIA On October 10th, the city of Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads Scholastic Chess Club (HRSCC) co-sponsored the Second Annual National Chess Day Festival. The festival was held outdoors in the Virginia Beach Town Center and included a four round Game/30 d5 Swiss tournament with sections for US Chess members and non-members from kindergarten to adult, a giant chess set, a learn-to-play area for visitors, a chess vendor, and a simultaneous exhibition (simul) with five-time Virginia State Champion Dan Miller. Over 80 people participated in the tournament and simul. The event was run by HRSCC and fully funded by the city! We plan to run the event again next year and watch it continue to grow. We are very fortunate to live in a city that supports the game we all love! David Kea, who finished in eighth (tied for fourth with 21
⁄2 out of 4 points) out of 17 players in the open rated section of the tournament, is in the photo above. ~Christina Schweiss
Susana was five in the tiny fishing town of Chelem, Mexico, when she started playing chess. “My parents had a popular seafood restaurant called Los Tiburones (The Sharks). At first I just played with my dad.” One day they went to the provincial capital of Merida and noticed a chess tournament. “My fa- ther probably signed me up just to kill time.” But she took third place in the otherwise all-male event. Curious reporters snapped photos of the little eight- year-old. Susana went on to win state and national championships and play in the World Youth in Slo- vakia and the Pan American Championships in Brazil. Eventually, her parents opened the Benito Juarez Chess Club, where “Many professional chess play- ers,” like GM Manuel Leon Hoyos, started as children. This year Susana earned her Ph.D. from the classical and modern languages and literature department at Texas Tech University. “I developed a love for for- eign languages because of chess.”
DR. BOB FERGUSON
BRADFORD,
PENNSYLVANIA “Players who endured
hours of matches in a day thought the SAT was a breeze.”
WISCONSIN The Kenosha Chess Association recently celebrated National Chess Day on October 17th with the Kenosha Public Library. The program for the day was designed to provide “something for everyone.” Free chess instruction was provided with several beginners learning how the pieces move and more experienced players learning about openings, strategy and tactics. With strong publicity by both the library and the Kenosha Chess Association, we had a great turnout with around 80 people participating throughout the day. The highlight of the day was local girls Chess Champion Anupama Rajendra (photo, above) playing a simultaneous exhibition. Anupama played 22 players, including her father. Anu lives in the Kenosha area and is a 10th grader. ~Allan Cargille
National Chess Day has been around as a concept since 1976 when President Gerald Ford issued a letter in support of National Chess Day. It became “more official” on September 29, 2010 when the U.S. Senate, in S Res #672, proclaimed October 9, 2010 as National Chess Day to “encourage the people of the United States to observe ‘National Chess Day’ with appropriate programs and activities.” US Chess has been promoting the day ever since, including offering free TLAs to organizers who include “National Chess Day” in their event title.
Ferguson is both a pioneering researcher in the cognitive benefits of chess and an innovative leader who gets things done. His academic research led him 35 years ago to create the Castle Chess Camp, the longest running in the U.S. Bob started teaching in 1966 and quickly had 10 percent of the school signed up for chess, a throng that required the school cafeteria as the only room large enough. “I was more focused on helping kids who were dropping out.” Hired to create a district-wide gifted program, he “naturally included chess.” Founding and energizing chess clubs wherever he went, Bob wrote a successful grant to bring Alex Dunne to teach at the first Castle Camp and convinced the local University of Pittsburgh to begin a master in residence program. His “Chess in Education Research Summary,” available on
www.uschesstrust.org, remains a crucial resource for parents and teachers. Bob continues to run clubs and to organize the Bradford Businessmen’s Chess League, involving 20 sponsoring businesses.
www.uschess.org 11
PHOTO, LEFT: SCOTT WILHELM; THIS PAGE, TOP: EVAN HILLIAN; THIS PAGE, BOTTOM: COURTESY OF KENOSHA CHESS ASSOCIATION
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