WIM Alexey Root, PhD

Alexey Root is a Woman International Master and the 1989 U.S. Women's chess champion. Her peak US Chess rating was 2260. She has a PhD in education from UCLA. You can find her books on chess on Amazon.com.

In-person Chess Teaching in the Time of Pandemic

One casualty of the pandemic has been in-person chess classes. With schools closed, on-site chess programs are closed too and many instructors lost their jobs. More 🡢

Discovered Attack With Check

An opening tactic I learned as a child came in handy on May 2, during the online “Isolated Queens II” tournament. In this article, I will show how the tactic can arise in the Advance French and in the Semi-Slav Defense More 🡢

Chess Respect

As reported by FIDE, former US Chess President Don Schultz died on April 19, 2020. Although I saw Schultz at several chess events, I spent the most time with him during the 1991 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship. The US Chess Federation had asked Schultz to organize the tournament when another bid for it fell through. More 🡢

You can be the hero (part 2)

At the beginning of March I didn’t actually believe that staying home was heroic. I thought that my venturing away from home, to New York City to share chess in education methodology with teachers, was admirable. Less than two months later, times have changed. More 🡢

Chess Story Explains Exponential Growth (COVID-19)

Both children and adults struggle to understand what the doubling of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases means. Doubling means exponential growth, which is explained in a memorable way by a famous chess legend. The King’s Chessboard by David Birch retells that legend. More 🡢

Almost heaven, West Virginia

There are 5,541 players listed on US Chess in West Virginia, though that number includes inactive players, expired members, and even the deceased. West Virginia has 1.78 million residents, so a little more than .3% of residents have been, or are currently, part of US Chess. Near the end of March, I will visit West Virginia to promote chess in that state. This article shares why chess may be a good addition to schools and provides a chess puzzle from 1848. More 🡢

George Aboud and Laura Schein in Emojiland

You can be the hero

In the Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation, White’s light-squared bishop is traded off on move 4. The light-squared bishop moved just twice before exiting the game. Trading doubles Black’s pawns, which matters. Thus, the light-squared bishop does “matter anyway” despite its brief existence. More 🡢

Chess on the red carpet

Before the Academy Awards (the Oscars) are handed out to each year’s winners, movie stars walk the red carpet. They pose for photos and are interviewed. On February 9, 2020, one young actress brought a black knight with her. This article explains why, and then presents a chess problem, from Grandmaster John Nunn’s most recent book, which features a black knight. More 🡢