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In addition to the November 8 presentation in Coppell, which I mentioned in a previous blog post, I am also presenting about my book Read, Write, Checkmate: Enrich Literacy with Chess Activities at the Texas State Reading Association conference. My presentation, on Friday, November 13, 1:45 to 3 p.m., is listed on page 5 of this .pdf schedule. If you cannot attend either of these, please consider the Living Chess Game performance November 24, 4 p.m., at the North Branch of the Denton Public Library.

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.” 

By Abby Marshall

Kudos as always to MonRoi for broadcasting the games and making it possible for everyone to know the results live. I guess I switched to writing hieroglyphics in the middle of my notation so I can’t read half my moves, but thanks to MonRoi I now have the complete score. Yay!

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.

Le Championnat ouvert du Québec accueillera au moins 11 GMs cette année dont l'un des meilleurs juniors au monde : Yaroslav Zherebukh d'Ukraine. Date : 18 au 25 juillet 2009 au Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf à Montréal.

MonRoi is delighted with the positive feedback received after the 2009 Canadian Open Chess Tournament, which was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We thank the Canadian chess community and chess fans worldwide for their continued support. Below are a few comments from Chess Talk.

Thanks to Dan Heisman for sending us the chess quotes.