Here is my talk summary posted 2/1/09 http://metroplexmathcircle.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/chess-and-math-recap/

And here is the initial press release:

Metroplex Math Circle Announces Dr. Alexey Root’s Lecture on Chess and Mathematics, Dallas, TX, January 31, 2009. Dr. Alexey Root will present on chess applications of graph theory to secondary math education. She will highlight the concepts of domination and independence and show how they can be illustrated through chess problems.

“The concept of domination is one of the central ideas in graph theory, and is especially important in the application of graph theory to the real world” according to Watkins in Across the Board: The mathematics of chessboard problems. Dr. Root’s lecture will be held on January 31st at 2:00 PM in ROOM CHANGE: FN2.102 (Founder's North 2.102), at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Dr. Alexey Root has a Ph.D. in education from UCLA.  Root has been a tournament chess player since she was nine years old. Her most notable chess accomplishment was winning the U.S. Women’s championship in 1989. She also holds the title of Women’s International Master. Since the fall of 1999, Root has been a senior lecturer at The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD).  From 1999-2003 Dr. Root was the Associate Director for the UTD Chess Program, the number one college chess team in the U.S. Root’s current assignment for UTD is to teach education courses that explore the uses of chess in classrooms. Her courses are available worldwide, via the UT TeleCampus online platform. Her books are Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators (2006), Science, Math, Checkmate: 32 Chess Activities for Inquiry and Problem Solving (2008), and Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literary with Chess Activities (2009). In Dr. Alexey Root’s presentation, participants will try two domination activities from her books: Mobility (Children and chess: A guide for educators) and Covering the Board: Kings (Science, math, checkmate: 32 chess activities for inquiry and problem solving). Participants will also solve the eight-queens problem ( Science, math, checkmate: 32 chess activities for inquiry and problem solving). The eight-queens problem highlights the concept of independence. Dr. Root’s lecture is free to the public and is presented by The Metroplex Math Circle (MMC).  MMC, sponsored in whole by the University of Texas at Dallas, is an enrichment program specifically aimed at enthusiastic, young mathematical minds. The program is designed to attract talented students to mathematics and to provide an accelerated avenue to develop students' mathematical and problem-solving skills.  The Director of MMC is Dr. Titu Andreescu, UTD’s mathematics education associate professor, former director of the AMC and former coach of the US International Math Olympiad team.  Dr. Andreescu is also the author of multiple books on Olympiad and collegiate level problem solving. The MMC brings middle and high school students together with professors, researchers, teachers, and other students who share their interest, providing a social context for students who enjoy math.   Past speakers have included distinguished math professors from around the world as well as gold medallists in international math Olympiads. The MMC program consists of a Fall and Spring session, each 12 weeks long. Meetings are held on Saturday from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at ECSS 2.410 on the UTD campus. All students in grades 5-12 with an interest in mathematics are welcome. Parents and teachers are also encouraged to participate in our lectures and sessions. For more information, please contact David Cordeiro at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit our website http://www.metroplexmathcircle.org.