Who said the following: “Chess is one of the sports I love because I played chess even before I became a boxer.”Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Chess club helps Detroit kids find their way forward, one move at a time
Laura Berman
May 21, 2013 at 8:45 am

One of the little-known gems of the Detroit Institute of Arts is on display, but not on the walls.

Those who’ve seen this cultural phenomenon use words like “magical” and “inspiring” to describe this weekly happening, the Detroit City Chess Club.

On any Friday night, usually in the Kresge court, you’ll find dozens of Detroit children, their heads down, fingers poised over chess boards.

Over these chess boards, the children learn lessons that change their young lives and often propel them from the streets to college classrooms.

Others find their footing. They gain skills in problem-solving and strategy.

In a group honored Friday night, there was an older child who only recently learned to read; a girl who cooks dinner for her brother on school days, since her mother works nights; a boy whose social skills are blossoming along with his game.

Consider Michaela White, 13, the soft-spoken eighth-grader who was named to the all-city “dream team” at a special chess all-star award ceremony Friday. Only in her first year as a chess player, she credits the game and Coach Kevin Fite with “helping everything.”

“When you’re playing chess, you think ahead,” she says. “You have to plan your moves. This is the first year I’ve played and it’s the first year I’ve ever gotten a 4.0 average in school.”

For more than a decade, Fite, a former Detroit math teacher, has coached with passion, dedication and steadfastness.

Always, he has struggled to keep the program going; to find funding and support, even though parents and his student players speak of him using superlatives.

“He is like a saint,” says Jimmy Settles, a UAW vice president who was introduced to Fite by a friend. “I have seen firsthand the difference he makes in these kids’ lives. But he’s not Mr. Softie. Even when the parents aren’t really involved, he gets the kids to take responsibility for getting there.”

Settles’ JUST Foundation, the United Auto Workers and Ford have helped pay for the chess team’s trips to regional and national tournaments this year.

At the Nashville nationals last month, Detroit “dream team” member Lamar Brice — a 10-year-old fifth-grader who attends Chrysler Elementary — won a sixth-place trophy almost as big as he is. Chess has been an eye-opener for him. (“I never expected to go on so many trips!”)

“I’ve learned to be a gracious winner and not such a sore loser,” he says.

Lamar learned to play chess with his uncle, Detroit photographer Kwabena Shabu. But he didn’t get excited about the game until “coach Fite brought a team to my school this year.”

Jalen Woods, 13, an eighth-grader at University Prep Science and Math Middle School, loves chess. His mother, Jadie Woods, sees “more focus and discipline” in Jalen.

Eight children were chosen to be on the citywide “dream team” this year. At Friday’s ceremony, Wayne State University trustee Debbie Dingell brought a hush to those in attendance when she told them she’d bragged about these children and their coach to Vice President Joe Biden and first lady Michelle Obama.

“I tell everybody I can,” she says. “I stumbled on the chess club when I was in the DIA one day and just found it incredibly moving.”

These children aren’t athletes but they’re in training, learning skills that build habits of mind as well as body. They’re living up to their potential with every practice, every move on the board.

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com

Pacman from boxer, preacher to chess player
By Joey Villar, The Philippine Star
Posted at 05/21/2013 9:14 AM | Updated as of 05/21/2013 9:14 AM

MANILA, Philippines – Boxing icon Manny Pacquiao finally showed up in the $100,000 Asian Continental Chess Championship he is sponsoring at the Midas Hotel and Casino and played Grandmaster Eugene Torre to a fighting draw.

“Chess is one of the sports I love because I played chess even before I became a boxer,” Pacquiao told The STAR last night, in Filipino.

The amiable Sarangani congressman watched some games, took pictures with fans and engaged Torre, Asia’s first ever GM, into an entertaining chess game that ended in a standoff.

Playing the black pieces, Pacquiao employed a rare defense using a Queen fianchetto variation and played Torre through about 20 moves before the two, following a series of minor piece exchanges, agreed to halve the point and shook hands.

Torre then asked for a signature for his red boxing gloves and then handed Pacquiao a marbled chessboard and wooden chess pieces as souvenir before the second-term Sarangani representative left the hotel.

Pacquiao said his support of chess is for long-term.

“I will support chess as well as other sports like boxing, basketball and billiards because it’s part of my platform being a congressman,” said Pacquiao.

When asked on his plans for his next fight against Brandon Rios on Nov. 23 in Macau, Pacquiao said he will start training soon.

Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com

Full standings here: http://chess-results.com/tnr101373.aspxChess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Replacement of GM Nadezhda Kosintseva GM Nadezhda Kosintseva has withdrawn from the Women’s Grand Prix and she has been replaced by the next highest rating reserve, GM Tatiana Kosintseva, who will take over the calendar allocations of the withdrawn pla…

Serbian Chess Federation is holding the national team cup tournament, named after the legendary Svetozar Gligorić, on 20-26th June in Banja Koviljaca, near Loznica.

Fifteen teams compete in the 7-round Swiss tournament. The defending champion is Novosadski ŠK DDOR.

Follow the live games daily from 16:00 CET

Top Team Compositions

1. Novosadski ŠK DDOR
1 GM Markus Robert 2606 SRB
2 GM Solak Dragan 2602 TUR
3 GM Vuckovic Bojan 2600 SRB
4 GM Popovic Dusan 2558 SRB
5 GM Kovacevic Aleksandar 2555 SRB
6 GM Lazic Miroljub 2476 SRB

2. Vodovod, Kragujevac
1 GM Ivanisevic Ivan 2655 SRB
2 GM Perunovic Milos 2630 SRB
3 GM Bogosavljevic Boban 2549 SRB
4 GM Milanovic Danilo 2487 SRB
5 GM Abramovic Bosko 2461 SRB
6 FM Zlatanovic Boroljub 2416 SRB

Live chess broadcast powered by ChessBomb and Chessdom

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Can you name this legendary player?Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar

Vast Oklahoma Tornado Kills at Least 91

MOORE, Okla. — A giant tornado, a mile wide or more, killed at least 91 people, 20 of them children, as it tore across parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs Monday afternoon, flattening homes, flinging cars through the air and crushing at least two schools.

The injured flooded into hospitals, and the authorities said many people remained trapped, even as rescue workers struggled to make their way through debris-clogged streets to the devastated suburb of Moore, where much of the damage occurred.

Amy Elliott, the spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City medical examiner, said at least 91 people had died, including the children, and officials said that toll was likely to climb. Hospitals reported at least 145 people injured, 70 of them children.

Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was reduced to a pile of twisted metal and toppled walls. Rescue workers were able to pull several children from the rubble, but on Monday evening crews were still struggling to cut through fallen beams and clear debris amid reports that dozens of students were trapped. At Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City, on the border with Moore, cars were thrown through the facade and the roof was torn off.

“Numerous neighborhoods were completely leveled,” Sgt. Gary Knight of the Oklahoma City Police Department said by telephone. “Neighborhoods just wiped clean.”

More here.

Here is how you can help: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/20/help-tornado-victims/2344493/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=206567