Schools Chess Club is Very Relative.

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 4, 2008

LAND O’ LAKES – For the Levisons, an after-school chess club at Pine View Elementary is a family affair.

The club got its start when 7-year-old Josh was looking for an activity after a hip disease put him in a wheelchair and left his dream of playing youth soccer in a holding pattern. His 8-year-old sister, Bree, also participates.

So do about 20 other children who meet each Friday to challenge each other across a chessboard and to learn tips from instructors from a chess club that is based in Temple Terrace.

For Josh, it started with a half-day chess camp last summer.

“When I came to pick him up, he said he wanted to stay the whole day,” said his mother, Lisa Levison. “He just loves it.”

Levison, who volunteers at the school, thought Pine View could use an after-school chess club, and the principal agreed with her. On a recent Friday, 10 games were in progress in the school’s media center as instructors Jeff York and James Barber monitored the action and offered advice.

To view a photo gallery of Pine View’s chess club, go to TBO.com, Keyword: Chess.

Ronnie Blair