2023-2024 US Chess Women and Girls Programming Grant Highlights!

US Chess 2023-2024 Women’s Programming Grant Cycle Highlights

With the generous support of the Saint Louis Chess Club, the US Chess Women’s Programming Grant directly supports the growth and retention of women and girls in chess. Grant awardees can engage women and girls in chess in the manner that best reflects the strengths of their organizations.

The 2024-2025 Women’s Grant Cycle will be announced very soon. We encourage chess programs engaging women and girls to apply and expand the impact of this amazing initiative! In the meantime, congratulations to this year’s awardees and here are highlights of how they utilized their grant.

Berkeley Chess School

               The Berkeley Chess School used their US Chess Women’s Grant to host the very first US Chess Senior Women’s Chess Championship. The event featured12 of the top U.S. senior women players who made the trip to Berkeley, California, where their games were live streamed and had commentators describing the action. Congratulations to WGM Angelina Belakovskaia who won the championship in a nail-biting finish! The success of this event led to the United States sending the very FIRST women’s team to the 2024 World Senior Women’s Team Chess Championship in Lubin, Poland. Congratulations to Berkeley Chess School for a successful event.

Chess in the Schools (New York)

               Chess in the Schools (CIS) organized two girls-only tournaments in 2023-2024, including the 2024 All-Girls NYC Chess Championship which took place at P.S. 11M, a public school in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.405 students participated. The second event was The Bronx All-Girls Chess Challenge. The tournament took place in P.S. 123X with 101 females participating.

               CIS also used their grant to run an afterschool chess program from September 2023 through June 2024, with 24 total sessions. Weekly, young female players were offered two hours of personalized coaching. Congratulations to Chess in the Schools for a successful year of chess programming.

Hampton Roads Chess Association (Virginia Beach, VA)

               The Hampton Roads Chess Association used their grant to host a series of engaging chess events, including a weekly girls chess club, a women’s beginner chess class, a Winter Chess Club Social at their local library, a chess movie night, a chess championship, mom-only tournament, and much more. The number of girls in their program rose from 100 to 150 members and their chess tournament attracted over 220 scholastic players. Congratulations to Hampton Roads Chess Association for a successful year of chess programming.

Indermaur Chess Foundation (Raleigh, NC)

               The Indermaur Chess Foundation hosted a Chess Moms tournament. Participants were prepared for the event with chess lessons from two titled women players. The tournament included mothers and grandmothers, many of which played their very first chess tournament. In the very next room, their children were playing a tournament of their own (but they couldn’t resist stealing a peak now and then at their moms and grandmothers’ games!).  Many of the adult participants stated that they are looking forward to playing in another tournament—clearly, the chess bug has taken hold with them. Congratulations to the Indermaur Chess Foundation for a successful and inspirational event.

Royal Oak Initiative (Columbus, OH)

               The Royal Oak Initiative (ROI) utilized their grant to serve primarily Black and Latina middle-school-aged children from the Columbus City Preparatory Schools for Girls. Their curriculum, led by women coaches of color, joined chess skill acquisition with culturally competent and social emotional learning informed practices.

The program ran from October 17, 2023, through May 14, 2024, totaling 22 sessions engaging 135 students of whom 53 were first-time chess learners.  Using chess as the medium, ROI enforced the importance of positive self-talk and mindfulness. On National Chess Day in October, ROI hosted five chess-related events at various venues around the city. These events included:

• Chess and Coffee
• STEM Queenmakers event
•  “Brooklyn Castle” film viewing
•  “Queens Up” Chess Tournament
• Chess Ladies Night.

ROI also hosted a ‘Girls vs Boys’ Chess tournament which featured two single-sex middle schools from Columbus and a Kinetic Mindfulness Training program which sought to dispel the myth that young people are either ‘nerds or jocks.’ It also provided middle and high school participants with mindfulness training to support their growth in intentionality in decision making on and off the board. Congratulations to The Royal Oak Initiative for a successful year of creative and engaging chess programming.