johnmcgraw1972

I am a middle school history teacher and the chess coach for Sumiton Middle School. I began forming a chess club because there was no chess club in our school system and I had no chess club to join while I was in school. I played baseball and football, and I would have loved to play chess in the off-seasons. I am also an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Army where I served as an Arctic Paratrooper in the 1/501st Parachute Infantry Regiment- 6th Infantry Division at Ft. Richardson, Alaska. One of my most memorable moments in the military was when I played a Russian paratrooper in chess. He spoke very little English, and I spoke very little Russian- Chess was our common language!