All the Right Moves

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.