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.”
Denton, TX – Want to learn chess or become a piece or pawn in a chess game? Children between the ages of 9 and 14 may attend this twelve-week program that will teach the rules of chess. Children will also get to sing, dance, and act as chessmen! The program will end with the children’s living chess game performance on November 24th at 4 p.m.
One way to celebrate your birthday with friends is to have a party at your local chess club. On July 6th at Denton Chess Club, we sang happy (18th) birthday to Julia Jones. Julia is pictured in the blue shirt in the photo. Julia will be one of the TX representatives at the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (July 26-31 at Texas Tech). Then she joins the student body at The University of Texas at Brownsville as a freshman on a chess scholarship. Congrats, Julia!
On June 8-12, and again on August 3-7, I will teach chess to students who will enter grades 4-8 in the fall of 2009. The courses are part of MOSAIC. Find MOSAIC information by searching the Internet for the Coppell Gifted Association Web site. Students can sign up for chess or for a myriad of other courses (such as Puppetry, Calligraphy, Building Structures, etc.).
Publication in peer-reviewed journals is the gold standard of academic respectability. I have an article in the current issue of TEMPO, the peer-reviewed journal of the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented. Here is the citation and a description: Root, A. W. (2009, spring). Checkmating advisory and summer boredom. Tempo, 29(2), 10-14.
On Sunday, April 26, I visited the 2009 All-Girls National Chess Championships, held at the Hyatt Regency Reunion in downtown Dallas. My photo essay, which is linked to the tournament results, was posted April 27 on the Chess Life Online Web site. The South Texas Chess Center ran the chess bookstore at the tournament. Thanks to its proprietor Dan DeLeon for buying a copy of my third book Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities.
Friday, April 17th, I attended the last UTD Chess Club meeting of the semester. I will miss the graduating seniors, pictured in this photo. Back row (left to right): IM John Bartholomew, FM Keaton Kiewra, IM Davorin Kuljasevic, IM Marko Zivanic
Photo of IM Marko Zivanic, UTD (back to camera), IM Jacek Stopa, UTD (standing, left), IM Sasha Kaplan, UMBC (seated), and UMBC coaches GM Sam Palatnik and National Master Igor Epshteyn. This photo was taken shortly after Zivanic won in the final round (played Sunday, April 5th), when the other three UTD-UMBC games were still going on in the President's Cup (Final Four of College Chess).
Bayaraa Zorigt participated in the Undergraduate Research Poster Competition on April 23rd. I am her faculty advisor. Her poster showed some aspects of the UTD Chess Program, such as the Chess Online courses.
I received my author’s copies of Read, Write Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities. Of my three books, this cover is my favorite. It shows tournament-style chess equipment. The boy in the emerald-green shirt is my son William. The photo is by Denton Chess Club President Michael Borys during a 2008 tournament at the Denton Public Library.
I have completed the text for my fourth book, People, Places, Checkmates: Teaching Social Studies with Chess. That book will be published in late 2010. I am looking for a cover photo for this book. My idea is to show a chess board, one or two chess players (ages 8-15), and flags (either small flags near the board or large flags in the background). If you have such a photo in high quality (600 dpi), please email it to me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
At the Chess Educator of the Year February 24, 2009 at The University of Texas at Dallas, honoree Dr. Stephen Lipschultz described the research grant: “Think Like a King is partnering with The University of Texas at Dallas to apply for US Department of Education funding to establish the first ever large-scale multi-year research effort to, hopefully, fully validate and define the precise role of chess in education.
