Scholastics
AVA MORENO BEATS HER DAD, ALDERMAN JOE MORENO OF
CHICAGO IN BETWEEN HER GAMES.
TWO GREENWICH ACADEMY GIRLS SHOW THEIR
EXCITEMENT AS THE TOURNAMENT PROGRESSES.
THE COMFORT OF STUFFED ANIMALS IS PALPABLE BETWEEN ROUNDS.
Beat People!
An atmosphere of fun and
excitement at the All-Girls
National Championship, as
captured in this photo essay.
Text and Photos By Jorge Barrera
32
Chess Life — July 2012
W
hen one thinks of Chicago, one often thinks of
its impressive architecture, blues music, and
deep-dish pizza, but equally impressive are its
variety of chess tournaments. Every year there
are enough large tournaments to keep the most
enthusiastic and serious of chess players content:
these include the Chicago Open, Chicago Class, Midwest Class,
as well as the U.S. Amateur Team North matches. Yet, one of
the most special tournaments that Chicago hosts, in my opinion, is the All-Girls Chess Championships.
A decade ago, when I was first becoming involved in chess
with the Berkeley Chess School in California, one of the
things that surprised me most was that there were tournaments reserved just for girls. I was puzzled by this separation;
why did there need to be a delineation? Yet, when I saw firsthand how much more relaxed the girls were on their own, I
began to understand the need for an environment where
girls could feel less intimidated and more at ease with the
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