Love for chess leads to formation of chess club

One student’s love for chess leads to formation of a club
By Barry Lewis
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 11:21 PM EST

Sometimes parents are willing to do a little something extra to help their children, and in the process they may actually help others.

Darren and Rachael Jensen, parents of kindergartner, Jacob, volunteered to start a chess club at Sommer Elementary. The club, which is called Checkmate, meets every Tuesday after school for one hour and has approximately 15 students learning to play the game.“

It all started because our son loves to play chess and we thought maybe other kids would like to play or learn to play,” Darren said. “I have been impressed with the number of kids who have shown interest. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we figured we would give it a try. We are very happy there has been such a good turnout.”

Source: http://www.journalreview.com

North Shore Chess Center

GM Susan Polgar Lecture and Book Signing

On Saturday December 11 @ 7:00pm, Grandmaster Susan Polgar will visit the North Shore Chess Center and provide a free lecture and Q&A session to players, parents, and all other interested parties. GM Polgar will discuss a variety of topics such as advancing chess in education, bringing together chess and corporate sponsors, and the topsy-turvey world of professional chess.

She will also do a book signing of two of her most popular books Breaking Through and Chess Tactics for Champions. Books will be available for purchase at the North Shore Chess Center.

The event is free for everyone to attend but attendance will be limited to the first 50 people registered. To register for the event visit http://www.nachess.org/events

The North Shore Chess Center is located at 5500 W Touhy Ave Suite A Skokie, IL 60077.

For questions please email Sevan A. Muradian at sevan@nachess.org

Rooty Hill Chess Club

Rooty Hill Chess Club has all the right moves
1 Dec 10 @ 10:15am by Stacy Thomas

THE best rule to follow when playing chess is to learn when to break the rules and only ever plan one move ahead.

You just never know what your opposition’s next move might be.

Ken Macgillivray, 79, of Cambridge Park, has played chess for 60 years. He is a member of Rooty Hill Chess Club.

He started at 19, surrounded by co-workers who spent their lunchbreak playing.

“There were only so many times I could get beaten,” he said.

“I was walking past a book shop in Queen St, Melbourne, one day when I saw a book in the front window, simply titled Chess.

“I bought it and my game improved,” he said.

“It was just after World War II. It really is a universal game - all the migrants used to play and spoke little English.”

Mr Macgillivray said chess clubs used to be dens filled with smoke and lots of scraps of paper.

That has changed - smoking is banned indoors and all scores are put through a computer program.

More here.