Dr. Alexey Root traveled to St. Louis for the launch of the Journal of Chess Research. While there, she got to visit the chess tourist sites (Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis and the World Chess Hall of Fame). Also, Grandmaster Susan Polgar showed her around Webster University, home of the national collegiate chess champions.

A personal thrill for Alexey was seeing Fide Master Loren Schmidt, PhD, at the launch dinner. Loren was Alexey’s first chess teacher, back in Lincoln, NE when Alexey was nine years old. Her parents paid Loren $3 for an hour lesson, which was followed by an evening at the Lincoln Chess Club (another couple of hours). Today’s chess parents would not be able to get three hours of high quality chess instruction and play for $3! Loren and Alexey wrote letters for years after Alexey moved away at age 11. Alexey considers Loren a friend and an inspiration. She dedicated her Children and Chess: A Guide for Educators to Loren and to Dr. Tim Redman, who was instrumental in Alexey’s career at The University of Texas at Dallas.