All the Right Moves

Thanks to Pyramid Atlantic community arts store ArtSpring
for the use of their site as a training area!

"All the Right Moves" chess activist Fernando Moreno held several training sessions on Saturday, showing parents and other interested people his manual and the supplies available for anyone willing and able to lead chess clubs in Montgomery County schools.

Meanwhile, dozens of kids and adults participated in another "open chess" event hosted by "All the Right Moves" and Downtown Silver Spring on a beautiful day. Senator Jamie Raskin and local chess prodigy James Pinkerton were on hand as well, playing chess matches against young and old challengers alike, and often teaching basics of the game as well.

"All the Right Moves," Montgomery County's exciting youth chess movement, is sponsoring another open chess play event at Downtown Silver Spring on October 3rd from 1-4pm.

Everyone is welcome!  Join Senator Jamie Raskin, Fernando Moreno, Blair High School chess team members, parents, community leaders, and chess players both young and old for exciting pick-up chess games and loads of fun.

This time we're also holding 3 short one hour trainings for adults interested in leading or helping out with school chess clubs for their kids.  The times are 12-1 pm, 2-3 pm, and 4-5pm, and the place is Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, a short walk away at 8230 Georgia Avenue (map). Fernando Moreno -- our resident chess club guru --will be showing us how he does it at Broad Acres Elementary School. 

In addition to the training, we can check out a well stocked chess supply box (see the "School chess club supply kits available" post below) to a parent or parent willing to take on a chess club at their kids school.  The supply box has 10 chess sets,  a demonstration chess board (hangs on a wall), and a lot of instructional materials.

The upshot is that we have both the expertise (with Fernando) and the supplies to help jumpstart a lot of school chess clubs.  We hope you'll be a part of it.

For more information contact Fernando Moreno at morenofe@aol.com or 240-988-3211.

Because of the generosity of the Montgomery Foundation and an anonymous donor, we can now supply chess sets and instructional materials for up to 25 Montgomery County school clubs.

Below is a photo of a supply box and its contents.

Each box contains chess game supplies...

• Plastic box and lid
• Chess board mats and bagged sets of white and black game pieces (10 sets) (green bags not shown)
  
• Demonstration chess wall board
• Demonstration chess pieces (next photo)

The board shows the positions after 12 moves
of the famous "Opera Game" between Paul Morphy
and two aristocrats, played in Paris in 1858.

... as well as instructional materials:

• Dynamic Chess Lessons (teacher's manual)
• Teaching Life Skills Through Chess: A Guide for Educators and Counselors (by Fernando Moreno)
• "All the Right Moves" Guide to Start a Chess Club notebook (by Fernando Moreno; not shown)
  
• Welcome to the Game of Chess (2)
  
• Welcome to Chess Ideas (2)
  
• Welcome to Checkmate (2)
  
• Chess Poems (for younger students)
• a donation of 3 books to your school library: one of each of the "Welcome" chess manuals
  

These instructional materials come highly recommended by "All the RIght Moves" own Fernando Moreno -- he's used them with great success at Broad Acres Elementary School.    They're written in clear, simple terms that will help anyone of any experience level -- in chess or in the classroom -- be a success in leading a chess club class.

If you're interested in leading a chess club at your child's school, please contact either Thomas Nephew (301-562-9393, thomasn528@prodigy.net) or Fernando Moreno  (240-988-3211, morenofe@aol.com). 

We'll be very happy to check out a supply box like the one above to you for as long as you're active with your school's chess club.  (In the event that you can't continue as a chess club sponsor, coach, or parent, we ask only that you return it to us at the end of the school year or pass it along to another parent and notify us.)

We look forward to hearing from you!

The Tai Lam tournament was a great success, with nearly 60 kids from participating from all over Montgomery County.

The Takoma/Silver Spring Voice did a pictorial combining photos from the May 8th kickoff and the May 30 tournament. (PDF, HTML), and Sue Katz Miller wrote a great article ("All the Right Moves: More Chess, Less Violence", PDF) for the Voice explaining the origin of "All the Right Moves and the Tai Lam tournament:

State Senator Jamie Raskin wants to launch a national “chess movement.” In his first move, he plans to use chess to capture every school in Montgomery County and promote the game as an alternative to gang violence. Or at least that is the goal of “All the Right Moves,” a new organization founded by Raskin, school guidance counselor Fernando Moreno, Impact Silver Spring, and a coalition of community activists. Raskin will announce the creation of All the Right Moves and a new chess tournament at a kickoff event in downtown Silver Spring on Friday, May 9th at 5 p.m. on Ellsworth Avenue.

The location on Ellsworth is no coincidence. It was a favorite spot of 14-year-old Tai Lam, who was randomly shot and killed by a gang member on a public bus on his way home from downtown Silver Spring last fall. All the Right Moves is planning the first annual Tai Lam Invitational Chess Tournament in his memory, with students from elementary, middle and high schools competing on Saturday May 30th [...]. Tai Lam’s family has endorsed the idea.

The Tai Lam Chess Tournament will now be held at the same location as the May 8th kickoff event -- Silver Plaza, Downtown Silver Spring (map)-- with many thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Jennifer Nettles and Downtown Silver Spring. 

Downtown Silver Spring is within walking distance of Silver Spring Metro stop; for those driving, there are two nearby parking garages with free Saturday parking -- one on Wayne Avenue just off Fenton, the other a block further north on Ellsworth Avenue just off Fenton.

The tournament will be on Saturday, May 30, as originally planned, but will take place from 1:15pm to 4:30pm.  Please register in advance using this web site or by contacting Fernando Moreno at morenofe@aol.com or 240-988-3211; to help organize the tournament, we'll need your child's name, grade, and school.

The tournament leader will be David Mehler of the US Chess Center. 

Prizes for participants have been furnished by MCPS Safe and Drug-Free Schools, thanks to Rita Rumbaugh.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The May 8th "All the Right Moves' kickoff was by all accounts a great success, judging by the smiles and the lively, friendly atmosphere -- and the fact that after just half an hour the plaza management agreed to make it a monthly event! 

The weather stayed nice, and passersby -- including lots of kids -- stopped to see what was going on, and then stayed to play chess at the wonderful tent and stage setup provided by Jennifer Nettles and her staff at Downtown Silver Spring.

The event was dominated by a stage with oversized plastic chess pieces on a rollout chess mat.  Allan Savage (a FIDE Master, U.S. Chess Life Master, and International Master in Correspondence Chess) lent some chess prestige to the proceedings, and played a number of games on stage, some against kids, some against passersby, and a grand finale against Senator Jamie Raskin.

Also on hand were community and chess activists like Susan Katz Miller, Fernando Moreno, Mary Hylander, Mike Hersh, and Alan Bowser -- who took a great series of photos of the event that you can look at at his flickr.com site.

But the real story was how many kids enjoyed themselves playing chess on a beautiful Friday afternoon, and what a great spirit "All the Right Moves" brought to Silver Plaza and downtown Silver Spring. 

About 2 dozen kids and a dozen volunteers signed up to play in or help with the May 30 tournament -- we'll be getting back to them soon. 

Again, many heartfelt thanks to Jennifer Nettles and the Downtown Silver Spring management for providing a wonderful venue and lots of support.  Thanks also to everyone else for helping, for watching -- and for playing chess!