One Move at a Time

EP#48: Michael Tisserand

For the October edition of One Move at a Time, US Chess Senior Director of Strategic Communication Dan Lucas sits down with Michael Tisserand to discuss his chess writings, his books (especially his biography of George Herriman), and chess and comics.  Learn more about Tisserand at michaeltisserand.com.

EP#47: GM Alejandro Ramirez

For the September edition of One Move at a Time, US Chess Senior Director of Strategic Communication Dan Lucas sits down with GM Alejandro Ramirez to discuss his chess history as the first grandmaster from Central America, being a commentator for the Sinquefield Cup, and the new World Chess Hall of Fame exhibit about the 1972 World Championship. 

EP#46: Fred and Bonnie Waitzkin

For the July edition of One Move at a Time, US Chess Senior Director of Strategic Communication Dan Lucas sits down with Fred and Bonnie Waitzkin to discuss both the book and film versions of Searching For Bobby Fischer and what it all meant to the Waitzkin family, more than three decades after the book's release.

Among the topics covered, we learn that Bonnie has an extensive history as a chess teacher.

Publications Editor Melinda Matthews joins this episode as a co-host. 

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“One Move at a Time,” is a monthly US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Listen to the whole family of US Chess podcasts at https://new.uschess.org/podcasts 

EP#45: Elliott Neff

For the June edition of One Move at a Time, US Chess Senior Director of Strategic Communication Dan Lucas sits down with Elliott Neff, founder and CEO of Chess4Life and author of A Pawn’s Journey: Transforming Lives One Move at a Time to talk about the history of his organization, chess as a transformational tool, and being a chess teacher and coach.

Chess4Life is a platform that teaches kids critical thinking skills, problem-solving, EQ, and other important life lessons through chess. Elliott is a master-level player and he holds the Professional Chess Coaching Certification Level V — the highest awarded certification by US Chess. Chess4Life has more than 70 employees and they’ve trained more than 10,000 students and have also been recognized as one of the Inc. 5,000 fastest-growing private companies on their 2015 list.

His book, A Pawn’s Journey: Transforming Lives One Move at a Time, shares true-life stories of students he’s encountered over his 20+ years of coaching, whose lives have been significantly changed for the better by chess.

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“One Move at a Time,” is a monthly US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Listen to the whole family of US Chess podcasts at https://new.uschess.org/podcasts

EP#44: GM John Fedorowicz

For the May edition of One Move at a Time, US Chess Senior Director of Strategic Communication Dan Lucas sits down with GM John Fedorowicz. 

From his 2009 US Chess Hall of Fame induction plaque:

"Inspired to begin playing chess by the Fischer-Spassky World Championship match in 1972, "The Fed" won the National High School Championship in 1975, tied for the U.S. Junior Championship in 1977, and won the competition outright in 1978. Both before and after attaining the GM title in 1986, Fedorowicz was considered a force in American chess, taking the U.S. Open in 1980, the New York Open in 1989, the National Open in 1992, and qualifying for the U.S. Championship numerous times. He is also the winner of five World Open titles and has many international victories to his credit, including Cannes and Sesimbra in 1987 and Wijk aan Zee in 1990.

"Fedorowicz twice represented the U.S. in the World Chess Olympiad and captained both men's and women's Olympiad teams. He also has authored numerous chess articles and two books, The Complete Benko Gambit in 1990 and The English Attack, with Nick de Firmian, in 2004. A lifelong New Yorker, Fedorowicz spends much of his time teaching and participating in the city’s chess community, and has frequently served as a second and advisor to U.S. Champion Gata Kamsky."

EP#43: IM Greg Shahade

Welcome to the April edition of One Move at a Time! Our guest today is IM Greg Shahade, who founded the US Chess School in 2006 and which resumes classes this year in a victory for a post-covid world. He also founded the New York Masters and the U.S. Chess League which is now known as the PRO Chess League. He is a former member of the Executive Board of US Chess. Greg won three national scholastic championships: tying for first in both the 1993 National Junior High School Championship and the 1996 National High School Championship, and winning the 1996 United States Junior Open outright. He won the prestigious Samford Fellowship, annually awarded by the U.S. Chess Trust to the top U.S. prospect under the age of 25, in 1999. His dad is FM Michael Shahade and his sister Jennifer is a two-time US Women’s Champion and our US Chess Women’s Program Director.

EP#42: Tyler Schwartz

For the March edition of One Move at a Time, US Chess Senior Director of Strategic Communication Dan Lucas sits down with Tyler Schwartz, the co-founder of Chess at Three and Story Time Chess. Both companies use an original, story-based method to teach chess to children as young as three years old. This innovative method is explained in Tyler's 2018 TED Talk, “Can Three-Year-Olds Play Chess?”

Tyler is also a professional magician and currently performs in "Speak Easy Magick" at the McKittrick Hotel alongside the best magicians in New York City. 

Dan and Tyler discuss the recent success of his companies, the similarities between chess and magic, his frustration with misoriented chess boards, and about the time he “beat” GM Hikaru Nakamura at chess in an energy drink commercial.

Follow Tyler on Twitter and Instagram.

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“One Move at a Time,” is a monthly US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Listen to the whole family of US Chess podcasts at https://new.uschess.org/podcasts

EP#41: Manasota Chess Center

Welcome to the February 2022 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Our guests today represent the Manasota Chess Center in Sarasota, Florida.  Nicholas Lewis is the Executive Director and Grandmaster Pascal Charbaneau supports the coaching and advisory team. Nicholas is a graduate of Florida State University with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. He has held diverse professional roles since graduation, which included professional violinist and conductor, software developer, copyright coordinator, Wikipedia administrator, product lead for Minds.com and, most recently, founder and executive director of the Manasota Chess Center.

Nicholas discovered chess during his freshman year at college, when he began playing with his college piano instructor,  which led to his piano lessons ending and morphing into weekly chess lessons instead. Nick later joined the college chess club and eventually became the president.  Under his leadership, the club held numerous tournaments, and grew from just eight to over 30 members.

After graduation, Nicholas moved to Sarasota, Florida.  He worked in the technology field for three years, before reinvigorating his passion for playing and teaching chess. During this time, he began pursuing the launch of a local community chess center in Sarasota.  The result of his efforts culminated with the formation in June 2021 of the Manasota Chess Center.  Today the Manasota Chess Center has grown to more than 50 members, and it now delivers a wide range of chess programs and activities that include monthly US Chess tournaments, chess study groups, and private and group chess lessons from US Chess certified coaches. Additionally, the coaching/advisory team includes two GMs, Pascal Charbonneau and Akshayraj Kore.

One of those GMs is joining us today. Pascal Charbonneau has twice been the Canadian Champion and he won over a dozen national championships as a junior. Pascal attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County on a scholarship when the chess team won the national championship four years in a row. He graduated in 2006 magna cum laude with a degree in financial economics and a secondary focus in Russian. After 2006, Pascal aimed his attention to the financial world. From 2008 to 2019 he worked at a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund as a key member of a small investment team.  He is currently senior portfolio manager with Vazirani Asset Management, an event-driven hedge fund. 

EP#40: David Llada

Welcome to the January edition of One Move at a Time and Happy New Year! Our guest today is David Llada, joining us via Skype from San Sebastian, Spain. David was our April 2021 guest, but I decided to interview him again focusing only on his behind-the-scenes work for the recently completed World Championship during with Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his title against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

David’s photos have often appeared in Chess Life and he has taken chess photos around the world. He has a book of his photos called, The Thinkers that you can purchase from US Chess Sales at uscfsales.com. In addition to journalism, David has been involved in the organizational side of Chess; being part of various organizational committees and frequently taking on the role of Chief Press Officer. With a background in journalism, public relations, online marketing and social media coupled with an extensive chess experience, he was a natural to become FIDE’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.

To give an idea of what David was going through behind the scenes, here is his Facebook post from November 18: "This afternoon I fell asleep on my laptop. Woke up 2,5 hours later with my face on the keyboard. Missed an appointment for dinner and I had nearly a hundred emails and whatsapp messages awaiting an answer. Yet I am enjoying the experience. I never thought I would organize a world championship match. Next best thing to playing in one, I guess."

Here is a gallery of World Championship behind-the-scenes images from Llada's Facebook page: https://new.uschess.org/news/one-move-time-january-edition-david-llada

 

EP#39: GM Maxim Dlugy

Welcome to the December 2021 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

 

 

Our guest today is Grandmaster Maxim Dlugy,  joining me in person from the 2021 National K-12 Grade Championships.  He is here doing a simul, all-comers blitz, and lecture. He was born in Moscow when it was still in the Soviet Union, and arrived with his family in the United States in 1977. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1985 andwas awarded the Grandmaster title in 1986 for his result at the World Chess Olympiad in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dlugy was formerly ranked number one in the world by the World Blitz Chess Association. His best finishes in the U.S. Championship were 3^rd place finishes in 1984 and 87. He was elected president of the United States Chess Federation in 1990. Dlugy was one of the campaign managers, along with Garry Kasparov, for Anatoly Karpov when he ran for FIDE President in  2010.