One Move at a Time with May Guests Seth Talyansky and Avi Gupta

Welcome to the May 2019 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which we talk to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

This month host Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication at US Chess, talks to high school students at the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon Seth Talyansky (18) and Avi Gupta (17) about how they are leveraging their state championship team's success to promote chess and support underserved communities. For example, the club hand-delivered chess sets to children in Chajul, Guatemala; donated chess clocks to a chess club in Ohrid, Macedonia; organized an online match with a high school chess club in Jackson, Mississippi; and traveled to Equatorial Guinea in western Africa to organize that nation’s first open chess tournament.

Talyansky is a US Chess National Master who has been the number-one ranked player in high school in Oregon since 2016 and was just named a U.S. Presidential Scholar. Gupta is the two-time Utah state champion in his age group and currently ranked number five in Oregon. He will be appearing on Teen Jeopardy the week of June 17.

The Wingfield school article that is mentioned in the show can be found on page 36 of the May 2018 Chess Life.

Our theme music “So Don’t I” was composed by Alex King, a National Master who lives in Memphis, Tennessee. Comments and questions are appreciated; please write to Click here to show email address. For more US Chess podcasts, see “Cover Stories with Chess Life” on the first Tuesday of each month, “Ladies Knight” on the third Tuesday of each month, and "Chess Underground" on the fourth Tuesday of each month. All can be found on our podcast category.