Beginning and ending with a handshake, this annual tournament empowers young people of all ages and backgrounds and teaches them important skills for life. Packaged as an accessible, economical game that any child can play, studies have shown that learning and playing chess empowers children and helps them develop critical thinking skills, builds self-esteem, teaches discipline, fosters positive social skills and motivates academic achievement.  With representation from over 700 students from all over the Midwest, the Queen City Classic has become one of the largest scholastic tournaments in the U.S. It is an amazing event to witness!

Although the event raises the intellectual bar for children in our great city, the one thing we all enjoy most about this event is that it provides the opportunity to see hundreds of youth from every neighborhood in the city spending two days together competing, learning and having fun. It is not an exaggeration for us to say that on this weekend, there are no boundaries, providing a level playing field for all. We hope to break down more barriers and reach more and more children with this great game …but we cannot do it alone.