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Chess In the Media

Checking out chess (El Paso Times, Texas)

As both of his brothers practiced their chess skills a few seats away, 4-year-old Adrian Padilla tried to emulate them in a match against his father, Guillermo Padilla.

"Checkmate," he said as he moved his first piece of the game. "That's a checkmate."

While Adrian was still trying to grasp the rules of the game, many other children Saturday at the Scholastic Semi-Annual Chess Tournament competed against each other or participated in an exhibition match against chess master Gustavo Maass.

Town considers proposal for giant chess at Lytton Square (Marin Independent Journal, California)

It's difficult to imagine what might improve the cozy, alluring European ambiance of Mill Valley's downtown Lytton Square.

But that is to the untrained eye. Mill Valley civic leader John Cutler for some time has looked at the square and seen a hole in his vision of perfection - one where nothing else would do but a giant chess board and really big chess pieces."

Anchoring the southern end of the picturesque plaza in Cutler's dream would be a 256-square-foot custom-made stone board with rooks and queens, more than two feet high, to be checked and mated, vanquished and victorious in battles pitched but blessedly bloodless, befitting genteel Mill Valley.

Tompkins Square chess player has created a monster (The Villager, New York)

Under the trees in Tompkins Square there is a monster. This monster neither lurks nor prowls. He can be found smiling among the homeless of East Village. He is missing a few teeth. And those which remain are not sharp.

If, however, you are caught retracting a chess move, watch out. The monster will show no mercy.

Lewis Taylor, a.k.a. the Chess Monster, is a large African-American man who wears thick glasses, smiles amiably and has gained a smattering of local fame for his unconventional chess rules — which he has tried to patent — his costume and his general approachability.

Do you know of an interesting, humorous, or unique chess story published online? E-mail us at newsletter@uschess.org.