Thank you for your generosity!

Around the Thanksgiving chess table from Lisa Suhay on Vimeo.

When we arrived at Lamberts Point Community Center for chess, the night before Thanksgiving, we didn't expect anyone to show. I had two boxes of wooden chess sets from the Solomons to hand out but also found a box of chess goodies waiting for me to be thankful for.

ODU players and Norfolk State University's amazing Dr. Bowman (STEM program) with his grandchildren and a student. We met Kyia, 8 and her grandparents. Kyia played and I taught Grandma and Grandpa to play chess. Many amazing boards went home as gifts tonight thanks to the Susan Polgar blog readers.

Big thanks to all of you who donated chess sets, boards, and books to the children! Your generosity will make a big positive difference in their lives. Thank you!

Below is the original post from a few weeks ago:


Donate your old sets for use as grade booster bribes

Many of our players have never owned their own board, set or chess books so, while many teachers offer candy, or a homework pass to get kids to improve their grades and attendance, I am offering them sets, boards and books.They must show me a before and after report card, or have a teacher’s note.

I got the idea after Jon Solomon dropped off a load of gently used Chess Life Magazines, travel sets, pieces and boards. The kids begged for them and I needed to come up with a fair distribution method. This week’s video (below) shows how the plan organically formed on the spot at Lamberts Point Wednesday night.

Please help me continue to do this by sending your gently used sets, boards and other chess-related materials to:

Lisa Suhay or The Chess Lady or NICE Chess (Any one will bring me to mind)

c/o Lamberts Point Community Center, 1251 W. 42nd Street, Norfolk, VA 23508

Launching the NSU Chess Club

NSU Chess Club's Opening Night from Lisa Suhay on Vimeo.

Guided by Dr. Yuri Barnakov and Club President Olu Bamiduro the Norfolk State University opened its doors for the first time on 11.18.11 as part of the run-up to the march Virginia Queens' State Championship to be held at NSU with GM Susan Polgar. See NiceChess.net for more information and regular updates.

Lisa Suhay

NSU SPICE

Tonight was Norfolk State University President Dr. Tony Atwater's student forum. He challenged those who attended to give him "the good, the bad and the ugly."

One of NSU's chess players decided to blaze the trail for the formation of a club while Dr. Arthur Bowman of the STEM program brought it home with talk of Susan Polgar and a possible SPICE satellite at NSU. NSU goes hard in the paint for chess.

NICE!
nicechess.net

NSU player goes hard in the paint for chess from Lisa Suhay on Vimeo.

Making Chess a Glass Act

Making Chess a Glass Act: Avery Shaffer from Lisa Suhay on Vimeo.

Glass Artist Avery Shaffer Norfolk, Va. gives a tour of his studio and his current projects, including insight on the creation of a chess set for Susan Polgar.

Music is by Project Trio.

Learn more about the artist at AveryShaffer.com.

Learn more about the chess event where Polgar will meet the artist and play on the new set at nicechess.net.

Art of Chess "Polgar Glass" invented

Art of Chess "Polgar Glass" invented from Lisa Suhay on Vimeo.

The chess Queen is birthed and forged in the fires of vision and ingenuity. Glass Artist Avery Shaffer and Sculptor Kevin Gallup took glass bottles and recycled them into chess art using Kevin's kiln at Four Corners Farm Market 26th St., Norfolk, Va.

They heated the glass in a crucible Kevin had used to melt copper to create lion heads for ODU's football stadium. Today, trace shards of copper remained and melted into the glass by happy accident, creating copper-threaded glass art when poured into sand molds made using chess pieces. Since these were chess queen molds the first batch was called "Polgar Glass" as its strands of metal coursed through the delicate glass barrier.

Shaffer decided to refine this technique and will begin work on a unique glass chess set for Susan Polgar's March 3rd exhibition at the Chrysler Museum of Art! See averyshaffer.com and nicechess.net

Chess sets giveaway to motivate children to do better in school

Chess set giveaway #1 NICE from Lisa Suhay on Vimeo.

Norfolk State University mentoring kids

NSU chess players are NICE mentors from Lisa Suhay on Vimeo.

Does your candidate play chess?

Does your candidate play chess?

Posted by Lisa Suhay

Sure there are all sorts of questions we should be asking our candidates before and after we vote. Today I decided “Do you play chess?” ought to be one of them.

It was a spur of the moment decision, as I walked up to our local polling place at Larchmont Elementary School here in Norfolk, Virginia, this morning. I was there to vote for Democratic candidate Ralph Northam. I don’t know if Northam plays chess, nobody on his staff could riddle me that one.

However, there, blocking my path to the polls was “the other guy,” Republican candidate Ben Loyola, hand outstretched, suit and tie crisp and a smile that looked fiberglasssed on. The man looked stressed. I would too if I was a red shirt that deep in Obamariffic Democrat turf.

My first instinct was to blow past, but my acquired Southern manners got the better of me and I stopped to shake his hand. He launched into his spiel like a man striking out for a life raft in a sea of sharks and I stopped him cold. Gripping his hand, I looked him dead in the eye and said, “There’s only one thing I look for in a candidate. Do you play chess?”

I did not get what I was expecting. Instead of the humanuh humanuh, his face completely cleared, the fixed fake candidate look shattered into a relieved smile and he positively beamed at me, “Chess? Chess! I love chess. I was the captain of my high school chess team! Chess was my entire life for ..well..years.”

He looked like a happy kid. He absolutely burbled about the game. I swear he transformed on the spot right into a man I would vote for.

So in I went and voted (not saying who got the vote because this is America and we like to keep you guessing here). Also, if Northam wins I don’t want to tick him off. I am still hoping he plays chess.

On the way out I stopped and handed Loyola my card and told him about the Virginia Queens Championship March 3rd at Norfolk State University. I exacted a genuine, bonafide, live-action, campaign promise right on outta the man. He PROMISED that if elected he would come to the championship and play Susan Polgar in the exhibition match.

You read it here first.

Did I mention that he would be playing her while she is blindfolded? Possibly I overlooked that fact in the heat of the moment, but I’m sure a former chess club president would relish the experience of being beaten by a woman who is playing blindfolded as the opener to Women’s History Month. I have great faith in my newfound political friend.

You will read it all here again on the Naughty List if he gets in and welches on the deal. However, for tonight, Loyola’s on the NICE list. Let you know when the polls close if we finally have our match-up for Susan or if I have to track down Northam and get a definitive answer on his chess track record.

www.nicechess.net

Mr. Solomon's Chess Gifts

It was the various travel sets and other goodies that came from Mr. Solomon’s last visit to Norfolk that inspired the idea of giving sets and boards etc. to students who grade-bust (raising a grade without dropping any others) and who boost behavior or attendance.

I posted a call for more and here he was at my door today.

However, that does not mean we don’t need sets, boards, books and clocks you are tired of and want to pass along to a child who can’t afford their own chess supplies. We need it all from score sheets to pieces.

My youngest son Quinten is featured in this video, he has Aspergers and loves nothing better than chess and sorting. This was his dream day.

Send chess goodies to:

Lisa Suhay c/o Lamberts Point Community Center

1251 W. 42nd Street
Norfolk, VA 23508
(757) 423-1088

Donate used chess sets to help kids: http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/2011/11/donate-your-old-sets-for-use-as-grade.html

Donate your old sets for use as grade booster bribes

Donate your old sets for use as grade booster bribes

Many of our players have never owned their own board, set or chess books so, while many teachers offer candy, or a homework pass to get kids to improve their grades and attendance, I am offering them sets, boards and books.They must show me a before and after report card, or have a teacher’s note.

I got the idea after Jon Solomon dropped off a load of gently used Chess Life Magazines, travel sets, pieces and boards. The kids begged for them and I needed to come up with a fair distribution method. This week’s video (below) shows how the plan organically formed on the spot at Lamberts Point Wednesday night.

Please help me continue to do this by sending your gently used sets, boards and other chess-related materials to:

Lisa Suhay or The Chess Lady or NICE Chess (Any one will bring me to mind)

c/o Lamberts Point Community Center, 1251 W. 42nd Street, Norfolk, VA 23508

Re-drafting sports fans. NSU vs. ODU in chess? Yes!

NSU vs. ODU in chess? Yes!
October 29, 2011

As part of the run-up to the March 2nd & 3rd Virginia Queens All-Girl State Championship, Old Dominion University made a bid to host and formed a university chess club with Chess Author, Dr. Ray Cheng.

The club took off, but the university had no space available for our event weekend so Norfolk State University took up the torch and is carrying it all the way.

NSU will host the Queens Championship with GM Susan Polgar who will play a simul and blindfolded exhibition (for more on that see www.NICEchess.net).

I just got the word that as of this week NSU has officially re-formed its chess club with Dr. Yuri Barnakov. The first note I got from Yuri casually mentioned was, “I believe ODU now has a chess team and we could play them.” Uh-huh. Anybody besides me catch a whiff of brimstone on the air? This is going to get interesting since ODU’s new football team has eclipsed the NSU team in the papers for coverage. Somebody, somewhere is going to figure out that a battle of wits among universities could actually mean something more than how fast you run or how hard you physically hit.

I read somewhere that parents send their kids to college to get an education, improve critical thinking, visualization and memory function so they can excel and provide for their families and communities. Showing you have great minds on your campus could just catch on.

Here at ODU, football has taken over the hearts of local fans (I live within shouting distance of Foreman Field deep in the heart of blue and silver territory and whoop with the best of ‘em), but I believe chess is about to take over their minds.

Ok, maybe most sports fans don’t know anything about chess, but they know about sports and how to be fans. Let’s start there.

So the next step (shhhh come closer to the screen because this is a chess secret that has been too well kept) is to get them informed and amped about their schools’ new sport – chess. Nobody outside the chess community knows chess is a sport. This goes for the sports section reporters as well as the potential fans.

I think we need blitz games. Clocks slamming. Skittles areas where (and I am just guessing the origins here, you can have beer with skittles and watch with interest).

Yes chess is serious, but when Fischer played the whole world gathered in pubs and byways to follow the thrilling action. If fans can follow the rules of football, rugby and even Australian football (my personal favorite) then chess is not an impossible challenge.

I want to make our current chess stars into public superstars again. Never again should a championship chess team take a backseat to a losing football team on campus. If our culture wants to worship winners then it’s time to worship the real gladiators, the ones who are not getting brain damage from hitting the turf too often. In the process maybe other teams will improve their strategic thinking as they follow our players.

GAMING the GAME: What would be really awesome and cross-sports-cultural would be if some bright young game designer would make a program for chess with characters representing each piece and hook it to an electronic playing board. Each move would play out like a battle to which new fans can relate.

That way we could have big screens in the skittles areas, or on campus for a local feed into the student centers where fans could see their intellectual gladiators hack and slash and fight in real time in their school colors and virtual uniforms.

Spectators would all have to learn to play chess in order to follow and once they understand what they are seeing the level of respect and championing goes up.

Seriously, if Wii can turn you into a tiger cub how difficult could this be to create?

Meanwhile, I look forward to seeing the first clash of intellectual titans on traditional boards from NSU and ODU. The ODU team has been volunteering with my students at Lamberts Point and have found a place in my heart for that, but i am going over to NSU to meet their team and I can’t play favorites. This is going to be interesting.

I will begin posting individual player profiles here for each team. maybe I’ll find a cartoonist to gameize them for their profile pics? Hmmm. Stay tuned for details on matches and other competitions.

–Lisa Suhay

http://nicechess.wordpress.com