9 queens is sponsoring three Best Game prizes for the 2009 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship. I have been asked to be a Best Games judge because of my books on chess and my winning this tournament 20 years ago. After all the judges’ votes are totaled, the best game gets $300, second best $200, and third best $100. The tournament is held in St. Louis and I am in Denton, TX.
My local newspaper, The Denton Record-Chronicle, ran a photo on October 6 of my playing chess with one of my Strickland Middle School students. I am currently volunteering teaching a weekly Living Chess Game class at the Denton Public Library. That class will have a performance, free and open to the public, on November 24th at 4 p.m. at the North Branch of the Denton Public Library.
Someone using the name "Alexeyroot" modified the entries about "Alexey Root" and "Dallas Chess Club" on September 14, 2009. I did NOT write (or edit) those Wikipedia entries. I was impersonated by someone using an IP address from Denton/Charter Communications. (I have Verizon in Denton). I have reported the problem to Wikipedia, and just got this response:
UTD faculty member and former U.S. Women’s chess champion Dr. Alexey Root has teamed with the Coppell Gifted Association to reveal her secrets to what it takes to be a chess champion…and it all adds up to a fun afternoon for parents and kids alike. Read more about this talk November 8, 2009 at this link.
On September 5-7, 2009 I played in the first-ever U.S. Women's Open in Tulsa, OK, won by University of Texas at Dallas sophomore WFM Saheli Nath. I was the reporter for the Women's and for the concurrent tournaments for Chess Life Online (articles online now) and Chess Life (articles will be in the December 2009 and January 2010 issues).
The first University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) Chess Club meeting of the 2009-2010 academic year doubled as a “Freshman Academic Survival” session. “Don’t fall behind. Compare the syllabus with your tournament schedule,” advised Yash Gogte, UTD Chess Club, Public Relations. “Go to office hours. Get to know your professors. Study with classmates,” said Karina Vazirova, UTD Chess Club President. UTD Chess Club Vice President Gerry Roberts offered, “Go to class.”
Denton, TX – Want to learn chess or become a piece or pawn in a chess game? Children between the ages of 9 and 14 may attend this twelve-week program that will teach the rules of chess. Children will also get to sing, dance, and act as chessmen! The program will end with the children’s living chess game performance on November 24th at 4 p.m.
One way to celebrate your birthday with friends is to have a party at your local chess club. On July 6th at Denton Chess Club, we sang happy (18th) birthday to Julia Jones. Julia is pictured in the blue shirt in the photo. Julia will be one of the TX representatives at the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (July 26-31 at Texas Tech). Then she joins the student body at The University of Texas at Brownsville as a freshman on a chess scholarship. Congrats, Julia!
On June 8-12, and again on August 3-7, I will teach chess to students who will enter grades 4-8 in the fall of 2009. The courses are part of MOSAIC. Find MOSAIC information by searching the Internet for the Coppell Gifted Association Web site. Students can sign up for chess or for a myriad of other courses (such as Puppetry, Calligraphy, Building Structures, etc.).
Publication in peer-reviewed journals is the gold standard of academic respectability. I have an article in the current issue of TEMPO, the peer-reviewed journal of the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented. Here is the citation and a description: Root, A. W. (2009, spring). Checkmating advisory and summer boredom. Tempo, 29(2), 10-14.
On Sunday, April 26, I visited the 2009 All-Girls National Chess Championships, held at the Hyatt Regency Reunion in downtown Dallas. My photo essay, which is linked to the tournament results, was posted April 27 on the Chess Life Online Web site. The South Texas Chess Center ran the chess bookstore at the tournament. Thanks to its proprietor Dan DeLeon for buying a copy of my third book Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities.
For those of you who are interested in following Ray's progress, I apologize that neither of us has had time to keep up with the news. Here is a summary of what's occurred since Ray's last entry:
