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Alexey Root (that's me!) is quoted in a USA TODAY newspaper article about chess, published March 29, 2011.

Here is a photo of me (seated) watching the 2010 Pan American Championship-winning UT Dallas college chess team play an exhibition match on March 16 at their own Chess Plaza. Five out of these six students have taken my Chess Online courses. Because of the first place Pan Am finish, UT Dallas "A" team will compete in the Final Four of Chess, April 1-3, 2011. Pep Rally to support the "A" team is March 29, 2011, noon at UT Dallas.

Small attendance at the Friday chess club on March 25, 2011 due to many conflicting events for the Denton High School students, though there was a record 33% female attendance (2 of the 6 students attending were female). Some ladder games were played and analyzed; we’ll try again for ladder games next week.

The chess event at Barnes & Noble on March 19 was a success. About 25 people visited the chess tables staffed by Denton High School chess club officers. The officers taught activities from my books or played full games. I sold a couple of my books from my author’s signing table. Simon Halipir (photo by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) took my favorite photo of the event.

Chess Life Online today (March 14) ran my story about the upcoming Barnes & Noble Chess in Education event featuring the Denton High School chess club officers and me. READ MORE.

Denton High School Principal Darrell Muncy visited chess club on Friday, March 11. He was just in time to try on our new chess club T-shirts, designed by chess club member MariPen. Next week, during spring break, the club officers and I will host a chess in education event at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Denton.

On Friday, March 4, only five students attended, due to a tennis tournament and Calculus Bowl being held at the same time. Nevertheless, it was a productive chess club meeting. I worked with two students on the "king and pawn versus king win" from People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess while two other students completed a ladder game. When the fifth student arrived, he helped the two groups solve the Eight Queens problem featured in my book Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving.

For March 2, I had two new boys for a total of 9 (7 boys, 2 girls). This is the lesson plan and also what actually happened today.

Objectives: Students will use algebraic chess notation to read and write chess. Students will propose a best move for presented positions from a game between two of their classmates and tell why they chose that move.

I gave two presentations at University of Texas of the Permian Basin on Monday, March 1, 2010. For the three-hour morning presentation, 246 schoolchildren and their teachers and coordinators from the gifted and talented programs in Odessa and Midland, and some other educators as well, attended. One boy solved the knight's tour as reported in the local paper. Another local paper also covered the story, and I was interviewed by a TV reporter too.

On Friday, February 25, 2011, I divided the Denton High School chess club students into four teams of three students for two games of team chess. Here’s some more information on how to implement team chess, which I first learned about at Jim Liptrap’s Klein Chess Camp (where it had previously been introduced by Brownsville chess coach J.J. Guajardo). Summary: A two- to three-person student team consults at their analysis board.

For February 23 after-school chess I had four students (3 boys and 1 girl). Some of my students had pre-UIL practices for their instruments, which may explain the low attendance. Objectives: Each student will take notation for some or all of the ladder chess game. Students will discuss the importance of reading and writing in chess and in general, as also covered in my book Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities.

Today five Denton High School chess club members participated in the high school open section of the Region II tournament at Fort Worth Academy. All club members will see their USCF ratings rise, which indicates they’re improving from the Region III tournament they played in last month at Lovejoy High School. Also, Denton High School took first place team and first, third (tiebreak; was tied for second), and fourth place individual trophies.