Chess Files

The Chess Files

The answers are out there.

By Jim Eade

The U.S. Chess Trust is a 501 (c)(3) organization, which means donations are tax deductible.  Do we need a chess charity?  In the spirit of full disclosure, I am the Trust’s President, but my answer remains an unqualified yes.

The Trust was a co-sponsor with the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) of the Second Koltanowski Conference on Chess and Education last November.  The conference brought together teachers, researchers and other interested parties from all parts of the country and included speakers from other countries.  The key finding from this conference was new research showing that playing chess builds character.

The Trust also supports American players in the World Youth Championship, the Collegiate Final Four, the World Junior, and the U.S. Blind Championship.  We also support a scholarship program that is based on a combination of academics and chess.

We help sponsor the Denker Tournament of High School Champions every year, which awards a scholarship to UTD.  This year’s winner was Atulya Shetty of Michigan.  We also help sponsor the Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions, which was won this year by Tommy He of Texas.

The Trust sends chess sets to Title 1 schools nationwide and to Americans serving in our armed forces overseas.  We also sponsor scholastic memberships in the United States Chess Federation for qualifying schools.

I urge you to visit our web site: www.uschesstrust.org, and check out this year’s Scholar-Chessplayer award winners, or write to us at:

US Chess Trust

PO Box 838

Wallkikill, NY

12589

As always, you can send your chess questions directly to me at jimeade@comcast.net.