Mark Indermaur chess parents, Girls Chess, Tournaments, Uncategorized

Inspiring Chess Movies

Inspirational chess movies are a great way to motivate your students for big upcoming chess events like the Triangle, NC, and National Championships!

Your young chess enthusiast may enjoy watching one of these inspiring chess movies about children that are all based on true stories: Searching for Bobby Fischer, Knights of the South Bronx, Brooklyn Castle, and Queen of Katwe. The first three movies also show state and national championship tournaments which would help prepare your child for the NC Championship. I have included links to the Wikipedia descriptions of each of the movies. Reviews and trailers are available online, so you can decide which might be best for your child.

A fun fact about Searching for Bobby Fischer is that Josh Waitzkin, the child prodigy in the movie, played Mike Klein (who many children know as FunMasterMike on ChessKid) in the tournament featured at the end of the movie.

The inspiring film, Her Move Next, shows how New York’s PS 33 Chelsea Prep elementary school empowers girls through competitive chess. It is a free, short film (about 18 minutes long). I highly recommend it!

Queen to Play, a French movie (with English subtitles), would also be good for older children (especially girls) or adults who would like a foreign language film.

Magnus, a Norwegian documentary (in Norwegian and English), chronicles Magnus Carlsen’s childhood as he becomes a grandmaster at 13 and world champion at 22.

Recommended by a chess club family, The Chess Players, an Indian movie in Hindi and Urdu (with English subtitles), would be good for older children or adults interested in Indian history.

Meredith W. Indermaur Girls Chess, Tournaments, women chess

Bringing Moms to the Boards

It’s no secret that chess moms deserve a medal; after all, they lend steady support to their kid’s chess-playing efforts in many ways, not the least of which is by logging weekend hours perched on uncomfortable chairs in hotel lobbies, school cafeterias, or chess centers while their future grandmasters hone their skills over the board. But on October 9th, 18 chess moms flipped the switch and played for trophies when they chose to showcase their own (mostly newly acquired) chess skills at the first ever “Chess Moms Play Chess, Too” tournament held at Hunter Elementary School in Raleigh, NC and organized by my husband, Mark, and me. Read more about our event in this article I wrote for US Chess: Chess Moms Play Chess, Too

Mark Indermaur Chess clubs, Girls Chess, Tournaments

Chess Moms Can Play Chess, Too – October 9, 2019

We helped the Hunter Elementary School Chess Club in Raleigh apply for a grant from the US Chess Women’s Program to hold a “Chess Moms Can Play Chess, Too” event. Hunter was one of 11 programs in the country to be awarded one of these grants funded by a generous gift in partnership with the Saint Louis Chess Club.

WFM Anuprita Patil of the Kings and Queens Chess Academy will give a brief talk to start the event on October 9 (which is a WCPSS teacher workday).

Each woman participating will receive a ChessKid basic adult account, free entry to our Chess Moms tournament for themselves and their children (who will play in a separate section), and free entry to 2019-2020 Hunter chess tournaments. The first 25 women to register will also receive a one-year online USCF membership (a $40 value).

We will present trophies to the winners in each section of the tournament. We will also have some special prizes which we will announce at the event.

Our goals are to encourage more women to play chess and to have more parent volunteers who can play with children during chess club meetings and tournaments.

This flyer has more information: http://bit.ly/ChessMomsFlyer, and here is the link to register: http://bit.ly/ChessMoms