1

2

3

Annual Dinner at the

LeMont restaurant,

President’s Message:

The PCC’s

second “Dinner

at LeMont”

fundraiser was

held at LeMont

Restaurant, in

Pittsburgh’s

Mt. Washington

neighborhood, on the evening of May 2.

Approximately 60 supporters of the PCC gathered

for an evening of fine food, great views and speed

chess.

Guests enjoyed a wide selection of hors d’oeuvres, a

buffet-style menu featuring several LeMont

signature dishes, and a cash bar with free sodas.

Guests also had the privilege of meeting and playing

chess with two of the best players in the state.

GM Alex Shabalov (four-time US champion, and

PCC Board member), along with NM Grant Xu

(three-time PA state champion) were on hand to play

blitz against all comers after dinner.

Former PCC Vice President, Clyde Kapinos, made

an appearance to support the Club. His presence was

not lost among the long-time members in attendance,

many of whom made Clyde’s seat their first stop for

a warm greeting.

The PCC owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to the

members and friends who helped make this

fundraiser a reality. A special “thank you” is

extended to the following contributors for their

extended efforts: Ron Barber, Jerry Meyers, John

Barroso, Mike Stephan, Stephen Plato and Jim

Szurek.

The hope is to make this an annual event. We thank

all of you for your support, and we look forward to

having dinner with you next year!

Boyd Reed: PCC President

4

Bruce Leverett vs. Kevin Carl:

2017 Club Championship: an annotated game

From the 2017 Club Championship This game was played in the next-to-last round. Kevin had a perfect score (4), Melih had lost one game (to Kevin), and I

had lost one game (to Melih). Franklin, having already lost to Melih and Kevin, could not get back into contention. The

only way it could become a real race would be if I won against Kevin. Even then, I wouldn’t end up in first place,

because I had a half-point bye scheduled for the last round (I was going to be out of town), but winning would have felt a

lot better than drawing.

1. Nf3 e6 2. d4 f5 3. d5

I had been itching to play this move since I saw Kevin’s earlier game on the Black side of the Stonewall Dutch. And yet,

it’s a bad choice, as we will see.

Judging from what I see while brushing up on the databases, the conventional way to combat the Stonewall is still to

fianchetto both bishops, and then, one of two plans: either exchange black-square bishops with Qc1 and Ba3, or keep all

the minors on the board and do whatever comes naturally depending on how Black tries to break loose. Another way to

play is 3. Bf4, getting off the beaten path; probably less critical but not bad.

3. … Nf6 The trap here is 3. … exd5 4. Qxd5 d6 5. Ng5 Qe7 6. Nxh7! Black can’t get out now with 6 … c6 7. Qb3 Be6 8. Qg3! (8.

… Rxh7 9. Qg6+), so White has an extra pawn for approximately nothing. Also, after 3. … d6 4. dxe6 Bxe6 5. Ng5,

retreating the bishop to c8 transposes to the same variation, and retreating to d7 is even worse, so Black must give up a

bishop for a knight.

4. dxe6 dxe6 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8

There we have it. White should have “a small plus” because Black’s king is caught in the center. But in reality, as soon

as my opponent played 3. … Nf6, I realized I had screwed up. In a must-win situation, White has exchanged queens on

the fifth move, and traded off a commanding center pawn to get an unpromising symmetrical pawn structure.

One reason I played 3. d5 was to try to get “off the beaten track”. But it turned out that Franklin had already played this

against Kevin recently. This shows how my grip on chess reality gets loosened by lack of keeping up.

6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Bd2

Hmm, his bishop is tying down two of my pieces -- did I make a mistake? Should I have just developed my kingside and

castled before thinking about the queenside? I don’t know.

7. … a6 8. g3 Nc6 9. Bg2 Bd6 10. O-O e5 11. Rad1 Ke7 12. e4!

This needed to be done. At least I can fight for the initiative.

12. … Re8 13. Nh4 g6!

It was counterintuitive to me that Black could get away with this. But with queens off, all those juicy attacking plans

involving White playing f4 don’t mean much.

14. exf5 gxf5 15. Rfe1 Kf7 16. Nd5 Nxd5 17. Bxd5+ Be6 18. Bc3

At least every remaining White piece is aggressively placed. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough remaining White pieces.

5

18. … Bxd5 19. Rxd5 Ne7 20. Rdd1

Perhaps 20. Rd2 was more accurate (see move 24).

20. … e4 21. f3 exf3 22. Kf2 Rhg8 23. Kxf3 Rad8!

Seeing this move, I realized that Black’s pieces were finally as well placed as my own, and that, therefore, from now on I

was trying to make something from nothing.

24. Rd2 h5!? 25. Rde2 f4! 26. gxf4 Rg4

A guy could get into time pressure in a situation like this. It looked to me like 27. Ng2 led nowhere, so I found something

else.

27. Be5 Bb4! 28. c3 Rxh4 29. cxb4 c6 30. Bf6

I considered moves like 30. Ke4 or 30. Kg2 (with the idea of Kh1), or somehow maneuvering my rooks to consolidate,

but I couldn’t make any of it work.

30. … Kxf6 31. Re6+ Kf7 32. Rxe7+ Kf6!

First finesse. I would have been happy to see 32. … Kf8; I would have played 33. Rh7, and only after 33. … Kg8 taken

the b-pawn.

33. R1e6+ Kf5 34. Re5+ Kf6 35. Ke4

I think that after 35. Rxb7 Rd4 36. Re4 Rd6 Black is okay. But I don’t have a lot of analysis to back this up.

35. … Rd6 36. Rh7 Kg6 37. Ree7 Rxh2 38. Reg7+ Kf6 39. Rxb7 Re6+ 40. Kf3 Rh3+ 41. Kg2 Ree3 42. Rbf7+ Ke6!

Second finesse. My opponent hesitated for a while here, long enough to make me hope that I really was going to get

something for nothing. 42. … Kg6? 43. Rhg7+ Kh6 44. f5! and White will mate. But now, in deep time pressure, I

needed to bail just to avoid losing to his h-pawn.

43. Re7+ Kf5 44. Rxe3 Rxe3 45. Rxh5+ Kf4 46. Ra5 Re2+ 47. Kf1

Agreed drawn.

I offered a draw. After 47 … Rxb2 48. a3 Ke3 49. Rxa6 Ra2, White can’t accomplish anything, except maybe to lose on

time.

6

BOOK ‘EM

Jose Raul Capablanca

By Steve O’Connor

José Raúl Capablanca

y Graupera was the

third World

Champion, reigning

from 1921 until 1927.

Renowned for the

simplicity of his play,

his legendary

endgame prowess,

accuracy, and the speed of his play, he earned the

nickname of the "Human Chess Machine".

Capablanca, the second son of a Spanish Army

officer, was born in Havana. He learned to play at

an early age by watching his father and defeated

Cuban Champion Juan Corzo in an informal match

in 1901 by 6.5-5.5 (+4 −3 =5), turning 13 years of

age during the match. Despite this and despite

taking 4th place in the first Cuban Championship in

1902, he did not focus on chess until 1908 when he

left Columbia University where he had enrolled to

study chemical engineering and play baseball. He

did, however, join the Manhattan Chess Club in

1905, soon establishing his dominance in rapid

chess. He won a rapid chess tournament in 1906

ahead of the World Champion Emanuel Lasker, and

played many informal games against him. Within a

year or two of dropping out of university and after

playing simultaneous exhibitions in dozens of US

cities, winning over 95% of his games, Capablanca

had established himself as one of the top players in

the world alongside the other greats of the period,

especially after soundly winning a match against

Frank Marshall in 1909 by a score of 15-8 (+8 -1

=14).

Capablanca won the 1910 New York State

Championship by defeating co-leader Charles Jaffe

in a tiebreak match. In 1911, he placed second in

the National Tournament in New York, with 9½ out

of 12, half a point behind Marshall, and half a point

ahead of Charles Jaffe and Oscar Chajes. There

followed Capablanca’s ground breaking win at the

very strong San Sebastian tournament in 1911 with

9.5/14 (+6 -1 =7) ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Milan

Vidmar, Marshall, and other luminaries such as Carl

Schlechter , Siegbert Tarrasch and Ossip Bernstein.

Before the tournament Aron Nimzovich protested

the unknown Capablanca’s involvement in the

event, but the latter demonstrated his credentials by

defeating Nimzovich in their individual game.

Winning at San Sebastian was only the second time

a player had won a major tournament at his first

attempt since Harry Nelson Pillsbury’s triumph at

Hastings in 1895, and it provided a powerful boost

to his credibility to challenge for the world title. He

did so, but the match did not take place for another

10 years.

7

In early 1913, Capablanca won a tournament in

New York with 11/13 (+10 -1 =2), half a point

ahead of Marshall. Capablanca then finished second

with 10/14 (+8 -2 =4), a half point behind Marshall

in Havana, losing one of their individual games,

rumour having it that he asked the mayor to clear

the room so that no-one would see him resign.

Returning to New York, Capablanca won all

thirteen games at the New York tournament of

1913, played at the Rice Chess Club. In1914 he

played at the famous St. Petersburg tournament.

Capablanca, with 13/18 (+10 -2 =6), came second

behind Lasker and well ahead of Alexander

Alekhine , Tarrasch and Marshall.

After the outbreak of World War I, Capablanca

stayed in New York and won tournaments held

there in 1915 (13/14 (+12 -0 =2)), 1916 (14/17 (+12

-1 =4)) and 1918 (10.5/12 (+9 =3)). It was during

the New York 1918 tournament, Marshall played

his prepared Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez

against Capablanca, but Capablanca worked his

way through the complications and won. Soon after

the War, Capablanca crossed the Atlantic to

decisively win the Hastings Victory tournament

1919 with 10.5/11, a point ahead of Borislav Kostic.

Capablanca did not play another tournament until

1922, the year after he won the title from Lasker.

During his reign, he won London 1922 with 13/15

(no losses), 1.5 points ahead of Alekhine; placed

second behind Lasker at New York 1924 (suffering

his first loss in 8 years – to Richard Reti – since his

1916 loss to Oscar Chajes); placed 3rd at Moscow

in 1925 behind Efim Bogoljubov and Lasker

respectively with +9 =9 -2; won at Lake Hopatcong

(New York) 1926 with 6/8 (+4 =4), a point ahead of

Abraham Kupchik; and won at New York in 1927

with 14/20 (+10 -1 =9), 2.5 points clear of

Alekhine, his last tournament before his title match

with Alekhine. During the latter tournament,

Capablanca, Alekhine, Rudolf Spielmann, Milan

Vidmar, Nimzowitsch and Marshall played a

quadruple round robin, wherein Capablanca

finished undefeated, winning the mini-matches with

each of his rivals, 2½ points ahead of second-placed

Alekhine, and won the "best game" prize for a win

over Spielmann. This result, plus the fact that

Alekhine had never beaten him in a game, made

him a strong favourite to retain his title in the

upcoming match against Alekhine. However,

Alekhine's superior preparation prevailed against

Capablanca's native talent.

After losing the title, Capablanca settled in Paris

and engaged in a flurry of tournament competition

aimed at improving his chances for a rematch with

Alekhine. However the latter dodged him, refusing

to finalise negotiations for a rematch, boycotting

events that included Capablanca, and insisting that

Capablanca not be invited to tournaments in which

he participated. In 1928, Capablanca won at

Budapest with 7/9 (+5 =4), a point ahead of

Marshall, and at Berlin with 8.5/12 (+5 =7), 1.5

points ahead of Nimzovich; he also came second at

Bad Kissingen with 7/11 (+4 -1 =6) behind

Bogoljubov. In 1929, Capablanca won at Ramsgate

with 5.5/7 (+4 =3) ahead of Vera Menchik and

Rubinstein, at Budapest with 10.5/13 (+8 =5), and

8

at Barcelona with 13.5/14, two points ahead of

Savielly Tartakover; he also came equal 2nd

alongside Spielmann and behind Nimzowitsch at

Carlsbad with 14.5/21 (+10 -2 =9). He won at the

1929-30 Hastings tournament and came 2nd at

Hastings in 1930-31 Hastings behind Max Euwe,

his only loss being to Mir Sultan Khan. Several

months later he won in New York for the last time,

this time with a score of 10/11 (+9 =2) ahead of

Isaac Kashdan.

Perhaps discouraged by his inability to secure a

rematch with Alekhine, there followed a hiatus for

over three years before he reentered the fray with a

fourth placing at Hastings in 1934-35 with 5.5/9 (+4

-2 =3), behind Sir George Alan Thomas, Euwe and

Salo Flohr but ahead of Mikhail Botvinnik and

Andre Lilienthal. In 1935, he secured 4th place in

Moscow with 12/19 (+7 -2 =10), a point behind

Botvinnik and Flohr, and a half point behind the

evergreen Lasker. Also in 1935, he came second at

Margate with 7/9 (+6 -1 =2), half a point behind

Samuel Reshevsky. 1936 was a very successful

year, coming 2nd at Margate with 7/9 (+5 =4), a

half point behind Flohr, but then he moved up a

gear to take Moscow with 13/18 (+8 =10), a point

ahead of Botvinnik who in turn was 2.5 points

ahead of Flohr, and then came =1st with Botvinnik

at the famous Nottingham tournament, with 10/14

(+7 -1 =6) ahead of Euwe, Reuben Fine and

Reshevsky on 9.5, and Flohr and Lasker on 8.5.

These latter two results were the only tournaments

in which he finished ahead of Lasker, which

enhanced his chances of challenging for the title,

but a challenge to World Champion Euwe was out

of the question until after the Euwe-Alekhine World

Championship Rematch (1937) , which of course

was won by Alekhine. In 1937, Capablanca came

=3rd with Reshevsky at Semmering with 7.5/14 (+2

-1 =11) behind Paul Keres and Fine and in 1938 he

won the Paris tournament with 8/10 (+6 =4) ahead

of Nicolas Rossolimo. The worst result of his career

occurred at the AVRO tournament which was

played in several cities in the Netherlands in 1938,

placing 7th out of 8 players with 6/14 (+2 -4 =8),

the only time he ever had a negative score in a

tournament. His health in this tournament was

fragile as he had suffered severe hypertension,

which affected his concentration towards the end of

his games; he may have also suffered a slight stroke

halfway through the tournament. Traveling between

the numerous cities in which the tournament was

played was also hard on the ageing master. In 1939

he played his last tournament at Margate, placing

=2nd with Flohr on 6.5/9 (+4 =5) a point behind

Keres. Shortly afterwards, he finished his playing

career – albeit unknowingly - in a blaze of glory by

winning gold with +7 =9 on board one for Cuba at

the 8th Olympiad in Buenos Aires.

Capablanca’s win at San Sebastian in 1911

provided the results and the impetus for Capablanca

to negotiate with Lasker for a title match, but some

of Lasker’s conditions were unacceptable to

Capablanca, especially one requiring the challenger

to win by 2 points to take the title, while the advent

of World War I delayed the match. In 1920, Lasker

and Capablanca agreed to play the title match in

9

1921, but a few months later, former was ready to

surrender the title without a contest, saying, "You

have earned the title not by the formality of a

challenge, but by your brilliant mastery." A

significant stake ($25,000, $13,000 guaranteed to

Lasker) was raised that induced Lasker to play in

Havana where Capablanca won the world

championship match without losing a game after

Lasker resigned from the match when trailing by 4

games; the first time a World Champion had lost his

title without winning a game until the victory by

Vladimir Kramnik over Garry Kasparov in 2000.

Between 1921 and 1923 Alekhine, Rubinstein and

Nimzowitsch all challenged Capablanca, but only

Alekhine could raise the money stipulated in the so-

called “London Rules”, which these players had

signed in 1921. A group of Argentinean

businessmen, backed by a guarantee from the

president of Argentina, promised the funds for a

World Championship match between Capablanca

and Alekhine, and once the deadline for

Nimzowitsch to lodge a deposit for a title match had

passed, the title match was agreed to, and began in

September 1927. Capablanca lost the match at

Buenos Aires in 1927 by +3 -6 =25 in the longest

title match ever, until it was surpassed by the

legendary Karpov-Kasparov match of 1984. The

match lasted over ten weeks, taking place behind

closed doors precluding spectators and

photographers. Before Capablanca and Alekhine

left Buenos Aires, they agreed in principle to stage a

rematch, with Alekhine essentially sticking with the

conditions initially imposed by Capablanca. Despite

on-again off-again negotiations over the next 13

years, the rematch never materialized, with

Alekhine playing two title matches each against

Bogolyubov and Euwe in the subsequent decade.

While Capablanca and Alekhine were both

representing their countries at the Buenos Aires

Olympiad in 1939, an attempt was made by

Augusto de Muro, the President of the Argentine

Chess Federation, to arrange a World

Championship match between the two. Alekhine

declined, saying he was obliged to be available to

defend his adopted homeland, France, as World

War II had just broken out. A couple of days prior

to this, Capablanca had declined to play when his

Cuban team played France, headed by Alekhine, in

the Olympiad.

Soon after gaining the title, Capablanca married

Gloria Simoni Betancourt in Havana. They had a

son, José Raúl Jr., in 1923 and a daughter, Gloria, in

1925. His father died in 1923 and mother in 1926.

In 1937 he divorced Gloria and in 1938 married

Olga Chagodayev, a Russian princess.

Capablanca's famous “invincible” streak extended

from February 10, 1916, when he lost to Oscar

Chajes in the New York 1916 tournament, to March

21, 1924, when he lost to Richard Réti in the New

York International tournament. During this time he

played 63 games, winning 40 and drawing 23,

including his successful title match against Lasker.

Between 1914 and his World Championship match

against Alekhine, Capablanca had only lost 4 games

of the 158 match and tournament games he had

played. In match, team match, and tournament play

10

from 1909 to 1939 he scored +318=249-34. Only

Spielmann held his own (+2 −2 =8) against

Capablanca, apart from Keres who had a narrow

plus score against him (+1 −0 =5) due to his win at

the AVRO 1938 tournament, during which the

ailing Capablanca turned 50, while Keres was 22.

On March 7, 1942, Capablanca collapsed at the

Manhattan Chess Club and he was taken to Mount

Sinai Hospital, where he died the next morning

from a cerebral haemorrhage provoked by

hypertension. Emanuel Lasker had died in the same

hospital the year before. Capablanca's body was

given a public funeral in Havana's Colón Cemetery

a week later, with President Batista taking personal

charge of the funeral arrangements.

Capablanca proposed a new chess variant, played

on a 10x10 board or a 10x8 board. He introduced

two new pieces. The chancellor had the combined

moves of a rook and knight (the piece could move

like a rook or a knight). The other piece was the

archbishop that had the combined moves of a

bishop and knight.

Capablanca‘s style also heavily influenced the

styles of later World Champions Botvinnik, Bobby

Fischer, Tigran Petrosian and Anatoly Karpov.

Botvinnik observed that Alekhine had received

much schooling from Capablanca in positional play,

before their fight for the world title made them

bitter enemies. While not a theoretician as such, he

wrote several books including A Primer of Chess,

Chess Fundamentals and My Chess Career. If you

are looking for an explanation of the rues in

Capablanca’s Primer, you will not find them there

since no one taught him the rules.

Emmanuel Lasker once said that he knew many

chessplayers but only one chess genius:

Capablanca.

11

Chess is 99% Tactics

Find the best winning line. Some positions may have a number of winning lines but the answers

given are those that the chess engine Houdini 4 evaluates as best and will have a valuation at

least 2 – 3 points higher than the next best.

Solutions posted on p. 12

1. Black to move

Cori Tello vs Kramnik, Baku 2015

2. White to move

Dubov vs Melnikov Ufa 2004

3. White to move

Atakisi vs Ruck Istanbul 2003

4. Black to move

Archangelsky vs Novikov Berlin 1992

5. Black to move

Khader vs Tissir Marrakesh 2016

6. White to move

Abergel vs Lazov Novi Sad 2016

12

BLITZKREIG By Rachel Gologorsky

Winning by Zugswang! - Part II Simple Endgames, 21.05.2017

In continuation of last time’s theme, here's a second endgame puzzle for my readers.

Diagram 1. White to Move and Win.

At first glance, this position looks like a clear draw -- Black comfortably controls the b8–square and can

block any direct attempts by White to play Ba7–b8 with Kb6–a6. Also, even if White manages to play

Bb8, Black has time to regroup and control the b8 square from the a7–b8 diagonal. Yet, this approach

is White's only conceivable way to make progress. Hence solving this position reduces to the following

two-fold challenge:

a) wrest away Black's hegemony over the h2–b8 diagonal by somehow playing Bg1, and

b) win from the ensuing position where Black now controls the b8 square via the a7–b8 diagonal

instead of the h2–b8 diagonal.

Let's tackle the second of these goals first. Imagining the position where Black controls b8 with the Bishop on a7, e.g. after

1. Bg5 Bg3 2. Be3 Bh2 3. Bb8 Bf2, do you see how White wins?

Diagram 2. How can White win from here?

Hint: On a7, Black's bishop has no squares.

Answer: Since Black's bishop has nowhere to run, all we have to do is attack it! 5.Bf4 Ba7 6.Be3!

Now that we know the position we we're aiming for, how can we achieve it? After all, it looks like

Black can prevent White’s plan with the simple 1. Bg5 Kb6 (or … Kb5) 2.Be3+ Ka6

13

Diagram 3. Black arrives just in time to prevent Ba7.

If only we were ahead by one tempo… How can we improve the position so that we are able to play

Ba7 without giving enough time for Black’s King to defend against it?

Hint #1: to delay Black’s King from reaching a6 in time, we must force him to waste time responding

to another threat. The only piece we can possibly threaten is Black's Bishop. How could threaten Black's

Bishop in order to get to the b8–a7 diagonal with tempo?

Hint #2: Were Black's Bishop not on h2, say, on b6, then White would be able to gain the needed tempo

by attacking it from the side (e.g. Ba5 if Black's Bishop is on b6), forcing Black to move the Bishop, and

then playing Bc7 with tempo. How can we force Black to place his Bishop in such a compromising

position?

Answer: Zugswang, of course! 3.Bc5! Since Black's king is immobilized defending against Ba7, Black

has to move his Bishop to a vulnerable square. 3...Bg3 Now we can repeat the starting position, with a

key difference: we can now leverage the Bishop’s position to gain the critical tempo we need. 4.Be7,

forcing Black has to return with his King to c6 to counter the threat of Be1 and Bf2. 4...Kb6 5.Bd8+ Kc6.

Now we are on the cusp of victory!

Diagram 4. So close to the original position, yet so far.

Finally, we can achieve Ba7-b8! 6.Bh4! Bh2 7.Bf2 Bf4 8.Ba7 Bh2 9.Bb8 Bg1 With the White Bishop

successfully outmaneuvering the Black Bishop out of the h2-b8 diagonal, we follow through with the

plan developed above. 10.Bf4 Ba7 11.Be3!

Truly, as Reuben Fine averred, combinations are the triumph of mind over matter. As the past two

puzzles demonstrated, with the right combination of ideas, an opportunity for victory can exist even

in the unlikeliest endgames.

1–0

14

Chess is 99% Tactics, SOLUTIONS

#1 Cori Tello vs Kramnik

-6.741... Qe4+ 2. Ka1 Qd5 3. Rb1 Rxg5 4. Qb6 Rf5 5. Rc1 Rd8 6. h4 Qd2 7. Rf1 Re5

#2 Dubov vs Melnikov

+4.58 1. Bxf5 gxf4 2. Bxe6+ Qxe6 3. Rxe6 Kg7 4. Rae1 Ra7 5. f3 a5 6. bxa5 Nxa5

#3 Atakisi vs Ruck

+27.81 1. Qxf7+ Kd8 2. Qxf8+ Be8 3. Rh8 Qd7 4. Nc5 Nb4 5. Nxd7 Kxd7 6. Qxe8+ Kxd6

#4 Archangelsky vs Novikov

-8.32 1... Nxc3 2. Nd2 Rah1 3. Nf1 Nd1 4. Re2 c3 5. Rb3 Ne3+ 6. Rxe3 fxe3 7. Nxe3 c2

#5 Khader vs Tissir

-8.31 1... Nxf3+ 2. gxf3 Qf2+ 3. Kh1 Qg3 4. Qc5 Nf2+ 5. Qxf2 Qxf2 6. e5

#6 Abergel vs Lazov

+10.35 1. Nf7+ Qxf7 2. Qxf7 Rg8 3. Qxf5 Bd4 4. Qe6 Rb8 5. Qd6 Ra8 6. Qxb6 Kg8

15

OFFICER DAVID SHIFREN AND THE PITTSBURGH POLICE: Magnificent job teaching children chess

Officer David Shifren started “Police Chess” in Pittsburgh in 2015: it is now a HUGE success! Below is an

exclusive interview with Officer Shifren.

EP: How did the Pittsburgh Police involvement with

chess start? When? Why?

In late 2015 a Pittsburgh Police Commander invited

all officers with coaching experience who'd be

willing to work with city kids to contact him. I

proposed that many of the lessons that kids learned

from sports -- the fun of friendly competition, pride

from working at a skill and improving at it, how to

multi-task and set priorities, becoming a gracious

winner and good loser -- might be taught through chess. too. Citing research that shows kids

who play chess develop critical -thinking skills and problem-solving abilities that often lead to better school attendance

and higher grades, I was given the green-light to launch a Pittsburgh Police Junior Chess Club. We started in Hazelwood,

a particularly challenged neighborhood where building positive police/community relations seemed especially important.

EP: How has the chess program been received?

The reception's been terrific -- first by the Police Chief, who approved the program, then

by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which hosts the meetings, then by parents,

teachers, local business-owners and by the media, all of whom have been supportive.

Most important, of course, are the participants, and the numbers tell that story: Despite

predictions that the first meeting might draw just 3 or 4 kids, 11 showed up. The second

meeting 14 came, then 18, 20, 25, topping out a few months later at 34, with some parents

also coming to learn the game. Average numbers now run 15 - 18, depending on the

school calendar, season, a given day’s weather, and whether kids have a test to study for the next day. As mentioned, the

program began in Hazelwood but sites now also include South Oakland, Sheraden, Beechview and Knoxville, with more

on the horizon.

EP: How long is a typical meeting? Does anyone teach chess? Do they play

against each other using what was taught?

Meetings run one to two hours, depending on the site. I and other officers -- as

well as several volunteer veteran chess-teachers -- instruct the young

participants, and yes, the kids play one another using what they've learned.

Players arrive with a wide range of experience, from those who've never sat at

a board to others who've been playing for years. One of the things I like best?

The kids' different ages, genders, physical size and socio-economic/ethnic backgrounds all are irrelevant: Across the

chessboard, all players compete equally.

EP: Does the Pittsburgh Police have a budget to spend on the program? Do they have a

long term program to keep this initiative alive for a long time?

No Pittsburgh Police budget's allotted at this time, although potential donors have contacted

us offering to contribute, having learned of the program through media coverage.

EP: Where do you expect this will go? Do you think of competing in State tournaments?

Chess Club tournaments?

State tournaments? Chess Club tournaments? Why not? The sky's the limit!

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PITTSBURGH CHESS CLUB MEMBERSHIP FORM 2017

*Please complete ALL fields

Name: _____________________________________ Renewing New member

Address: ________________________________________________________________

City________________________________State_________ Zip ___________________

Preferred email: _______________________________________@_________________

Preferred phone number: (________) _______- _______________

Date of birth ______/ ________ / _________ Today’s date: ____/_____/____

month day year

Your age as of today: _______ Membership Category: please CIRCLE on below.

CATEGORIES:

Regular (ages 18 to 64) $75 Senior (65 or older) $55

Affiliate $55 Associate (approval) $35

Junior (up to age 18) $35 Family (after a full Regular paid) $37.50

En Passant subscriptions only: $10

*En Passant subscription only is NOT a club membership. All

members receive the En Passant as part of their membership.

*Associate: needs Board approval, intended for unemployed members only

*20% discount for residents of counties adjoining Allegheny county and 50% discount

for counties beyond that.

*in any situation, only one discount applies.

PLESE SEND Check payable to : The Pittsburgh Chess Club

5604 Solway Street Suite 209

Pittsburgh PA 15217

Club phone: 412 – 421 – 1881

Membership questions: profjohnbarroso@gmail.com

TOURNAMENT questions: pccinfo@pittsburghcc.org

DONATIONS are tax-deductible: we will send you a receipt for tax purposes:

Just add the following amount to your membership amount: $__________ added to membership

MEMBERSHIP QUESTIONS: profjohnbarroso@gmail.com or text message 412-352-4878

mailto:profjohnbarroso@gmail.com

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