Spreading Chess in San Angelo, TX
Greetings Chess People,
I'm a chess coach, organizer, and TD in the San Angelo, TX area. I am doing my very best to spread the game of chess in West Texas. There are several avenues that I am exploring with the town in order to get more people playing chess in general. I am always looking for friendly volunteers to help me out with my chess programs. Here's a breakdown of some things I am trying to accomplish once the new year comes along.
Chess in Senior Centers
I know there are some chess players hiding in the senior centers. Perhaps they played when they were young and even saw Fischer win during the 70's. There are likely more who might be interested in learning chess, but for some reason think they cannot. I'd like to teach these folks chess and introduce them to the wider chess community. I think only good things can come of this.
Pop-Up Chess Events
We had a very fun chess-filled evening at Chik-fil-a last week and it showed me people would be willing to meet in town to play chess. I approached several smaller businesses about having chess events in their space. It's important that we show support to these businesses when we arrive by purchasing their products or services. Many are family-owned/run and deserve our support. Our ongoing relationship with the Bearded Barista coffee shop will continue and I'd like to add several others to our growing list of "chess friendly" locations around town. In no particular order or preference, donut shops, the mall courtyard, public parks, diners, and restaurants. If you have any ideas please reach out. I release news and updates on upcoming pop-up events on our Facebook group "Concho Chess Academy."
https://www.facebook.com/groups/750373449257502
Community Fundraising Tournaments
I am trying to organize a tournament to support local endeavors at least once every two months. We have a tournament on February 4th to benefit the Railway Museum of San Angelo. I also spoke with Firehouse Pizza to hold tournaments in support of their First Responder Scholarship Fund. Expect an announcement regarding these tournaments very soon. Feel free to contact me for any information on these upcoming tournaments. I will be posting the TLA soon on the USCF website.
The Boys and Girls Club of San Angelo
I am applying to teach chess classes the both Boys and Girls Club locations in San Angelo. I have all the equipment needed to run these classes, but I will need some volunteers to assist. Several of my private students have already reached out, which is excellent. If you are interested in helping me teach these classes please contact me. Hopefully this effort will spread chess to kids who would not have played otherwise.
West Texas VA Chess
I reached out to my local VA administrator to offer a free class to veterans once per month. I attended this year's Veteran's Open Championship and the turn-out was very low. I would love to get more vets into chess as it is a positive coping mechanism for many of life's ills. I know it has personally helped me with my mental health struggles and it can help others as well. Hopefully we can connect veterans in West Texas to our larger chess community.
If you'd like to help in any of these efforts, please reach out to me in a message. I am quite tired at the moment, so please excuse any instances of lack of proper prose and questionable diction (try to say that 10 times fast).
By the way, check out the Youtube Channel if you haven't already.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAXpkuIUXFGx54f5buxEMRA
Keep Calm and Chess On,
Chase Ross
