May 2009

All the right moves

More chess, less violence

by Sue Katz Miller

Senator Jamin Raskin is pictured here playing 18 simultaneous chess games at Broad Acres Elementary back in November 2008. Photo by Julie Wiatt

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 5pm 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 Chess Tournament in his memory, with students from elementary, middle and high schools competing on Saturday May 30th on Ellsworth Ave by the fountain. Tai Lam’s family has endorsed the idea.

“The death of Tai Lam was a traumatic blow to our community,” said Raskin. “My son Tommy knew Tai from Eastern Middle School and all the kids there, as at Blair, were devastated when Tai lost his life to a brutal gangster with a gun.” Raskin, an avid chess-player himself, already knew Moreno, the counselor at Broad Acres Elementary School and the author of the book Teaching Life Skills Through Chess. Moreno had taught Tai Lam chess in a program he ran at the Long Branch Community Center. “We started talking about ways that we could promote chess as an alternative to gangs and delinquency,” said Raskin. “In chess, kids can think strategically, aggressively, and cunningly but the game is nonviolent, peaceful and intellectually constructive. We decided to launch a chess movement in our community. More chess, less violence.”

The idea that playing chess could prevent a student from joining a gang may seem like a stretch. But not to Raskin and Moreno. Moreno’s book is filled with advice on how to use chess strategy to help students see the long-term consequences of rash decisions. “When I was a kid, chess was the thing that opened up my mind to thinking like a grown-up,” says Raskin. “It was like learning a new language. We’re hoping that every young person in Silver Spring and Takoma Park will take up our challenge and learn how to play and explore the mysteries of chess, which teaches you how to look into the future.”

At the kickoff event, participants will be able to challenge Raskin and local highly-ranked chess students, and play with a giant chess board on the street. The immediate goal is to attract local students and schools to enter the Tournament at the end of May. The long-term goal is to get chess players in the community—parents, college students, retirees—to volunteer in chess programs at every local school.

At the moment, some county schools have chess programs run by staff, some have programs run by PTAs, and some have no chess at all. Chess players who want to share their love of the game in the schools, as well as students and schools who want to enter the Tournament, should contact event organizer Thomas Nephew at thomasn528@prodigy.net or Jamie Raskin at Jamie.Raskin@senate.state.md.us or 301-858-3634.

Says Raskin, “Chess can become to our community what soccer already is—a way to bring young people together in intense and joyful competition.”

To find out more, visit the "All the Right Moves" website: atrm.org.

Also check out our Parenting blog.