Mystery of Chess Boxing Trailer.

Not so much about chess, just some seventies old school Kung Fu technique.

(Imagine mouth lip-syncing “two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun”) … “Wassa! Ghost faced killer!!”

Garry Kasparov vs. The Helicopter.

Without further adieu, The Helicopter Video (set to Flight of the Valkyries, of course)… Rich

Bloggers are like Pawns on a Chess Board.

There’s an interesting post over on Problogger that I think makes a lot of good points about bloggers and blogging in general. Have a look at it, and see if any of it relates to your Chess blog reading and writing.

From Problogger:

“Remember that time you started to blog? You were so into making it happen that you used to commit so many hours into you blog? Instead of moving one square at a time, you were a bit impatient so you thought you should move two at a time. You soon learnt that running on full throttle is not something you can do all the time. So, you HAD to slow down and realize your blog doesn’t deserve all of your attention.”

I can relate. For the last year or so I was hunting furiously for stories and videos that were not being covered by the mainstream chess blogs (if there even is such a thing as a mainstream chess blog). I’ve found that over the past month or two that one really does not need to post something every day to maintain loyal readership.

What’s most important is that you communicate with your readers in a prompt and sincere fashion. Interact with them, and post good content that makes them want to come back. I knew this from the get-go, but I still gravitated more toward quantity than quality.

It’s easy to just cut and paste google chess news alerts on your blog if your a celebrity chess figure, but us blue collar guys have to dig out the original and thought provoking stuff.

So what you’ll begin to see here is a little less posting, but a little more quality and originality.

What an original concept ! …Rich

Building The Mtel Masters Glass Box.

Chess Redeems Addicts, Teaches Children.

Restoration Ministries program teaches life lessons.

By Lolly Bowean, Baltimore Sun, May 4, 2008

Thirteen-year-old Antwon McGhee glanced back and forth between the chessboard and his opponent, a 28-year-old recovering crack addict from Chicago.

Moments earlier, Antwon had been as frisky as the 40 other children around him in the Restoration Ministries workshop in Harvey, outside Chicago. But when he bent over the chessboard, he was all business.

For most people, chess is just a game. But in this club, where recovering addicts coach children in chess, it is a way toward understanding life better in a struggling community.

“That’s checkmate,” Antwon’s opponent said after 15 minutes of play. Antwon shook his head no.

“Yes, that’s checkmate,” his adversary said. Antwon stared at the board a few seconds more. “Wanna play again?” he asked with a small grin.

“In life, you’ve got to think like the rook,” Antwon said as he set up for another game.

“He can go anywhere, backward or forward, but only in a straight direction. I’m following God’s footsteps and moving forward. Some people can’t do that.”

The chess club was started last year by Michael Acquaviva, who said he’s been clean and moving forward for four years after spending what seemed like a lifetime addicted to drugs.

On the streets of his native Detroit, Acquaviva was a begging, bug-covered, smelly bum who lived under a bridge and injected heroin and a mix of vinegar and crack, he said.

But now, Acquaviva, 52, is the knight. Like the game piece, he hops around the Chicago suburbs speaking to children, telling his story to students and pushing men at a drug recovery house to do their best, hoping to capture an invisible prize: redemption from his troubled past.

“The chessboard is an even playing field,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who you are. Everyone is the same, and you have one goal.

“If I can help somebody with that,” he said, his voice trailing off. “This really boosts their confidence.”

Acquaviva hopes that if the players can see a bit of themselves in the game, maybe the children and recovering addicts can find their way to victory in life.

“I hope that at this young age, this game will be something they can carry on,” he said. “I strayed away from chess, but I did come back.”

After years of feeling he had little to contribute to the world, Acquaviva found his niche with the children in Harvey.

He started the group after mentioning to an employee at the recovery house where he lives and works that he used to love the game as a youngster.

When the club started, only eight children from Restoration Ministries’ after-school program were interested, he said.

Acquaviva found a way to grab more children’s attention. He announced a challenge: He’d pay $100 cash to anyone who could learn the game and beat him.

“At first it was easy,” he said. “But then I had to work to protect that $100.

“If you watch the kids, you’ll see they are so determined. They are young, but they are focused. They want to win.”

During the hourlong sessions, the room grows silent as the children stare down their opponents. Most of the time they play against adults: the recovering addicts, some college students and community volunteers. Sometimes they play each other.

The children come from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. Most are from Harvey, but some come from South Holland and other nearby towns to play.

They don’t take defeat easily. When one child lost, he called his opponent a rascal.

In return, his foe pulled his glasses from his face and let out a breathy huff.

“Smell my breath,” he said, and his opponent retreated while covering his face.

Seated a few spaces over, Aaliyah McGhee, 7, said she thought for sure she had won her game as her opponent TaSonia Bolden, 9, celebrated, “I beat you, I beat you.”

Aaliyah wrinkled her nose and twisted her face in disgust. “I don’t want to play again,” she said, and flicked the remaining pieces off the board.

“Dang! Did you see what she did?” a boy at another table said.

Many times, TaSonia said, she feels powerless.

But on the chessboard, she’s the queen.

“I like the queen because the queen can do whatever she wants,” she said. “I’m just a kid; I can’t take over everything like the queen can.”

Since she started playing chess, TaSonia said she’s quieted down. She prefers the thinking game to watching TV or running around.

“Chess is real quiet. You use your head,” she said.

Aaliyah might have not beaten TaSonia, but she’s won a few times, she pointed out. “I beat my brother. Then I beat my dad. Then I beat my mom. Then I kissed her.”

For Antwon, chess is a way to escape frustrations, he said.

His father taught him the ins and outs of the game, and when he and his sister found out about the chess club they walked in off the street to join.

Though the games are played in silence, emotion is projected in the moves, he said.

“When I get real mad, I play chess,” he said. “It makes me calm down a little. I don’t really care if I win or not. It’s just for the love of the game.”

His opponent reminded him that he was getting distracted, and it showed in his game.

“Just being able to help these kids feels good,” said Jonathan Lane. “If you learn your opponent, you’ll beat him eventually.”

Then Lane grew a little more introspective: “The world can be discouraging,” he said.

“But you can overcome. Once you learn the ways of the world, you become much wiser.”

Lolly Bowean writes for the Chicago Tribune.