On March 23 from 4-5 p.m. I will be presenting at UTD. My talk "Chess is Now for Children: Changes Over the Past 40 Years" is part of a year-long series of 40 events (or more) created to mark UT Dallas' fourth decade as a UT System institution. My talk will address the changing demographics of chess during the past four decades, from its beginning as a game for adults to a game now dominated by children.
Check out of the performance of the Living Chess Game, the culmination of 12 weeks of classes I taught at the Denton Public Library. Starting position, with White to play and draw: White: Kh8, pawn on c6. Black: Ka6, pawn on h5. Solution: 1. Kg7 h4 2. Kf6 Kb6 3. Ke5 h3 4. Kd6 h2 5. c7 Kb7 6. Kd7 h1(Q) 7. c8(Q)+ 1/2-1/2.
Start-Up Business
Montreal’s October Girl Geek Dinner was held at Capriccio Restaurant in Old Montreal where guests were graciously hosted by entrepreneur Stephen Walsh and Chef Rich Tajiouti. This evening featured an in-depth presentation by Brana Malobabic-Giancristofaro, MonRoi’s founder, who covered all the bases of how to create a start up. It was a passionate, organized and very well-organized presentation which referenced many top business thinkers, philosophers and psychologists.
I will be reporting on The University of Texas at Dallas tournaments, held November 21-29. Look for my first report on Chess Life Online at the mid-point of the event, and a wrap-up report in Chess Life. Jon Haskel has set up a Web site with pairings. Look for the link that says "UTD Invitational GM & IM Norm Tournaments." MonRoi will provide live coverage of the games.
The Denton Record-Chronicle covered the upcoming (November 24, 2009) Living Chess Game at the Denton Public Library. The online version does not include the photo at left, which is in the print version of the article with this caption,“Two participants of the Living Chess Game at North Branch Library pose recently in front of a poster advertising their finale at 4 p.m. Tuesday.” The nine-year-old on the right (in black and pink) drew the poster.
In addition to the November 8 presentation in Coppell, which I mentioned in a previous blog post, I am also presenting about my book Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities at the Texas State Reading Association conference. My presentation, on Friday, November 13, 1:45 to 3 p.m., is listed on page 5 of this .pdf schedule. If you cannot attend either of these, please consider the Living Chess Game performance November 24, 4 p.m., at the North Branch of the Denton Public Library.
9 queens is sponsoring three Best Game prizes for the 2009 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship. I have been asked to be a Best Games judge because of my books on chess and my winning this tournament 20 years ago. After all the judges’ votes are totaled, the best game gets $300, second best $200, and third best $100. The tournament is held in St. Louis and I am in Denton, TX.
My local newspaper, The Denton Record-Chronicle, ran a photo on October 6 of my playing chess with one of my Strickland Middle School students. I am currently volunteering teaching a weekly Living Chess Game class at the Denton Public Library. That class will have a performance, free and open to the public, on November 24th at 4 p.m. at the North Branch of the Denton Public Library.
Someone using the name "Alexeyroot" modified the entries about "Alexey Root" and "Dallas Chess Club" on September 14, 2009. I did NOT write (or edit) those Wikipedia entries. I was impersonated by someone using an IP address from Denton/Charter Communications. (I have Verizon in Denton). I have reported the problem to Wikipedia, and just got this response:
UTD faculty member and former U.S. Women’s chess champion Dr. Alexey Root has teamed with the Coppell Gifted Association to reveal her secrets to what it takes to be a chess champion…and it all adds up to a fun afternoon for parents and kids alike. Read more about this talk November 8, 2009 at this link.
On September 5-7, 2009 I played in the first-ever U.S. Women's Open in Tulsa, OK, won by University of Texas at Dallas sophomore WFM Saheli Nath. I was the reporter for the Women's and for the concurrent tournaments for Chess Life Online (articles online now) and Chess Life (articles will be in the December 2009 and January 2010 issues).
The first University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) Chess Club meeting of the 2009-2010 academic year doubled as a “Freshman Academic Survival” session. “Don’t fall behind. Compare the syllabus with your tournament schedule,” advised Yash Gogte, UTD Chess Club, Public Relations. “Go to office hours. Get to know your professors. Study with classmates,” said Karina Vazirova, UTD Chess Club President. UTD Chess Club Vice President Gerry Roberts offered, “Go to class.”
