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Chess In the Media

UMBC wins college chess Final Four (Washington Times)

Forget basketball. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is celebrating its own Final Four victory -- in chess.

In the sixth annual Final Four of chess this past weekend, UMBC defeated the University of Texas at Dallas for the President's Cup of the Pan-American Intercollegiate Championships.

"As far as hype, I don't know if you can compare it to an athletic event, but it is definitely well-known here on campus," said Alex Bardakh, UMBC's club's president.

Low-Cost Workouts for Young Minds (New York Times)

"Chess is like having psychic powers, because I look deep into the game and figure out what my opponent is going to do before he does it," said Wesley Yu, a pint-sized scholastic chess champion from Seattle.

"Chess is the best!" he added, and his parents concurred. His mother, Yuwei Feng, said the game had helped Wesley, an energetic 7-year-old, to focus and learn to face difficulty without giving up.

Parents often disagree with their children over how many hours they can spend playing video games or whether to use their allowance to enhance their Pokémon card collection. But a when a child takes up chess as a hobby, many parents are excited.

Young players show passion for chess (Miami Herald, FL)

All that could be heard was the quiet, constant clanking of chess pieces.

More than 1,150 students from kindergarten to 12th grade -- representing 347 schools from across the state -- flocked to the Sheraton Mart Hotel on March 25 and 26 to take part in the Florida Scholastic Chess Championship tournament.

It was organized by the Florida Scholastic Chess League and sanctioned by the Florida Chess Association. The success of the tournament -- the largest state tournament in history -- is a testament to the growing popularity of chess across Miami-Dade County. Henry Flagler, Miami Springs and Rockway middle schools all offer chess as an elective so it is integrated into the academic program.

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