Blog

If you looked up “serving others” in an encyclopedia you just might find a picture of Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson. Orrin is an Air Force veteran and a former state trooper who founded Be Someone, an organization that helps kids develop leadership and life skills through chess one move at a time. Just what inspired such a massive career change?...

Breck Haining is the father of two children who participate in chess competitively. He learned from his father to play chess when he was 8 or 9 years old. Breck’s dad taught him how the pieces move and the general goal of the game. His brother got into learning tactics and Breck observed how much this improved his brother’s ability. Years later, Breck’s own son came home from school and asked to learn how to play chess. Breck saw a parenting opportunity: chess can be a tool for...

The transition from college to career can be a challenging time. Since the beginning of the pandemic it can be even more difficult for recent graduates to make the necessary connections to find employment. At the same time, the challenge of ...

What do you call the coach of a queen? This week’s Chess4Life Spotlight guest Robert Katende is just that. He was the coach of Phiona Mutesi, the “Queen of Katwe” (you can even see Robert in the Disney film!). Though...

Dr. Joe Castleberry has lived an incredible life – he’s traveled and lived all over the world, had amazing educational opportunities, and became the president of a university despite being the first in his family to attend college. Dr. Castleberry describes his life as like a chess match, but it might not be in the way you initially expect. He sees...

Randy Kaech once directed a tournament where Walter Browne, six time U.S. Champion, played. Knowing this fact from his adulthood, you might never guess he once had no idea there was a broader world of chess. Randy grew up in a small town in a rural area of...

It’s easy to see that Bruce Kovalsky has had a successful career in the STEM industry from even a quick glance at his resume. He’s been a senior manager and senior engineering specialist at places like Boeing and IBM and has now been taking...

This week’s Spotlight guest is Jim Egerton, owner and founder of Business on the Board, a talent development company that accelerates employees’ mastery of critical business skills through the game of chess in the corporate world. Jim believes that chess leads to better thinking, better thinking leads to better decisions, and better decisions lead to...

You may have seen our recent interview with 14-year-old Christos Boulis where we explored the benefits of chess from the perspective of a student. What benefits of chess are seen from the eyes of a parent? Ken Lee is Vice President of Michael Wiese Productions, the number one publisher in the world for books for indie filmmakers and writers. One evening during family movie night, Ken decided...

At Chess4Life we believe that chess has great potential to teach kids life skills. Children can benefit from far more than just enjoying the game by learning to play. Instead of having you take our word for it, we decided to go straight to the kids and see what they think! This week’s Spotlight features Christos Boulis, a 14-year-old student of Chess4Life. Christos has achieved remarkable chess growth in a short amount of time and has a big goal of achieving Master level before he turns 18. We asked Christos what...

She played her first chess game at 4 and started her first non-profit at 14… does this sound like a child prodigy to you? Us too! When Ashley Priore sees a problem, she jumps right in and does what she can to solve it. Her story with chess has a complexity many girls and women may face in the chess world. Chess helped Ashley develop the life skills she...

If you were able to tune into Chess4Life’s Spotlight last week, you heard the story of how Kyle Haining’s chess mastery helped him in his coding career. Well, what about book writing? Can a game that is played mostly in silence have...

This week’s spotlight falls on Kyle Haining, a current software developer. He’s also a national master in chess, ranking him among the top percentage of players in the United States. Kyle has been playing chess since the first grade when he had a meaningful introduction to the game. He found a book on chess at school that caught his interest and took it home with him. At the time, Kyle’s father had cancer which...

From a chess club in a slum of Uganda to being part of a Disney live action film to attending university in the United States with a big dream of positively impacting others, Benjamin Mukumbya’s story is one you do not want to miss. I’ve always believed in the capacity...

A Chess Rating is a number typically ranging from 400-2000+. It is an estimate of a person’s tournament playing strength. You receive a rating after playing in a rated tournament once your name is entered into the database of players. The number will go up or down depending on how well you do against other rated players. Here is a list of sample ratings and how they typically correlate to chess skill:

Nationals is an ‘open championship’ meaning that there are no qualification requirements. Every participant simply must have a USCF membership. There are sections for all rating levels, from unrated through ‘open championship’ sections. We recommend that if a student enjoys competing in tournaments already, then attending nationals can be an amazing experience!

The Queen of Katwe is a real-life story told in a book and Disney live-action movie…and the story continues to develop. At Chess4Life HQ in Bellevue, WA, thousands of students develop Life Skills Through Chess: critical thinking skills, focus, planning, social-emotional skills and more. On the opposite side of the world, similar life-changing results are being seen…meet Phiona & Benjamin, whose story has brought them on an amazing journey that includes the Slums of Uganda, Red Carpet of Hollywood, Chess4Life, and most recently Northwest University in Kirkland, WA!

In 2013, our Founder and CEO, Elliott Neff, heard about an inspiring book entitled The Queen of Katwe. This story chronicles the life of a young girl named Phiona Mutesi who was born in Katwe, a Ugandan slum where food, water, and clothes are difficult to come by. Despite her harrowing circumstances, Phiona was able to achieve tremendous things after being introduced to chess by Robert Katende, her chess coach and mentor.

Finding a balance between your children’s wants and your needs while piecing together a full summer schedule can be daunting, as there are hundreds of summer programs in the Seattle area to choose from. Which programs are best? Look for programs that have the following four elements, and both your needs and your child’s needs will be met.

With over 1,100 competitors at State, roughly 5,000 people are expected. Parking can be especially challenging if you arrive late. If possible, come on Friday and visit the event to acquaint yourself with the layout. There is free parking in the parking structure next to the Tacoma dome and a free light rail service that will transport you to the Convention Center. For more parking information, click HERE.

PRACTICE CHESS TACTICS AND PUZZLES We recommend approximately 15 minutes per day, 5 days a week. REVIEW PAST TOURNAMENT GAMES Review the last 20-30 tournament games to refresh on where the student could improve or WOULD improve if playing the same game again. PRACTICE ENDGAMES Spend at least 30 minutes reviewing/practicing basic endgames/checkmates – preferably with 5 minutes on a chess clock against another person. DON’T CRAM Avoid spending the week before a tournament cramming on chess strategy.

We want to give a big THANK YOU to all those who participated in the 100 board simul last weekend! 115 people ended up playing against Elliott which was a personal record for him in a simul. Play started around 12:20PM. In the end, Elliott drew 4 games and won the rest (NO LOSSES!!) The last game ended at 8:15PM, a total play time of about eight hours!

On April 24th, Chess4life played host to Phiona Mutesi, a young girl with a powerful story of success and inspiration. While visiting, she spoke to students, told her story, and even took the time to play some games with children while teaching them to think positively and have confidence in their own abilities. Phiona’s youth gave her the ability to relate to students easily, allowing her to connect with them and earn a positive response.

Excitement buzzed in the air as hundreds of students and families flooded to downtown Seattle for the 2014 Washington State Elementary Championships. The tournament was held on the Seattle waterfront in Smith Cove Cruise Terminal, a two story building with 145,000 square feet of space. In addition to players and their families, numerous chess related organizations arrived up and gave support for the event including Pico Dragons, Chessplayer.com, ChessSport.com, and Chess4Life.