First Lady of Ohio Visits with Scholastic Chess Players

On Friday, February 5, twenty five lucky students got the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet The First Lady of Ohio--and test their chess skills against a local master.

First Lady Frances Strickland visited The ProScan Pink Ribbon Center in Over the Rhine to watch members of The Norwood Knights chess club play in a "simul," a display in which a skilled chess player plays multiples games of chess simultaneously. Held in conjunction with the Cris Collinsworth ProScan Fund’s Queen City Classic Chess Tournament on March 12-13 at Paul Brown Stadium, the students had the chance to sharpen their skills pre-tournament as they took on Local Master Russell Wilson.

"Our kids are so excited to play in this simul," states Norwood Knights Chess Coach Marshall Dykes. "Chess is a valuable educational tool that gives kids a strategic advantage on the board and in life. It has had such a profound impact on our students lives."

"We are so pleased to have the First Lady bring even more awareness to this empowering activity for young people," continues Queen City Classic Chess Tournament Founder Penny Pomeranz. "Chess has such a transformative power in helping young people understand the importance of thinking ahead and the idea that actions have consequences, important ideas that are integral to every child’s growth and development."

While in town, The First Lady also toured the ProScan Pink Ribbon Center in Over the Rhine, a center that provides funded life-saving mammograms to underserved women. The Center is also a program of Cris Collinsworth ProScan Fund.

Now in its ninth year, the annual Queen City Classic Chess Tournament has grown to one of the largest scholastic tournaments in the nation. Drawing hundreds of students from every neighborhood in Cincinnati and across the Midwest to Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium, the tournament empowers boys and girls of all ages, backgrounds, and playing levels. Participating students have the unique opportunity to meet history-making chess players including International Grandmaster Maurice Ashley, the first and only African American Grandmaster of Chess; International Master Irina Krush, the youngest woman ever to win a U.S. Women’s Championship at age 14; and International Grandmaster Gregory Kaidanov, the most active Grandmaster teacher and former top rated player in the United States.

Studies show that learning and playing chess helps children develop critical thinking skills and build self-esteem, while teaching and empowering them to succeed. The Queen City Classic Chess Tournament provides a unique opportunity that appeals to all age groups, stimulates problem-solving skills, easily crosses cultural and economic status and bring smiles to the faces of every child while they are learning.

For more information or to register for the event, visit www.queencityclassic.org.