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Big Chair Chess Club

DC Public Libraries “Battle of the Branches” on October 23

Capital-area chess players of all ages are invited to the latest edition of “Battle of the Branches,” a fun competition among teams representing various locations throughout the DC Public Library systems.   The tournament will be held on Sunday afternoon, October 25, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library opposite Gallery Place.

Organized by the Big Chair Chess Club, the U.S. Chess Center, Chess Girls DC and the DC Chess Association, the event has separate sections for children (grades K-12), adults and seniors (65+).  All players must register in order to compete, but registration is free and open now.

Previous editions, such as the 2024 tournament pictured above, have drawn big crowds, and this time around we expect a similarly large contingent of children and adults turning up to represent their favorite library branches.

Area-Wide Scholastic Is a Huge Success

We were pleased to sponsor the D.C. Area-Wide Scholastic Tournament, held on Saturday, April 25, at the Washington Convention Center downtown. It was nice that the Big Chair Chess Club and the D.C. Chess Association contributed to the effort.

Nearly 200 students representing more than 100 schools registered for the event. Not only were DC, Maryland, and Virginia represented, nine students from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, made the trek to compete. Berkeley Springs High School won the trophy for the top high school. Georgetown Day School in the District of Columbia was the top middle school, and Churchill Road Elementary in McLean, Virginia, took top elementary school honors.

The playing venue was terrific. Players were close enough to others that a sense of community was created, yet there was adequate elbow room for players to be comfortable. The skittles room, similarly, was large enough to accommodate the hundreds of players, family members, and teachers between rounds while not being so cavernous as to allow isolation.

The event was divided into eight sections by grade. The youngest section, for students in kindergarten through second grade, was the largest. There were 34 children vigorously competing, with an Oyster (DC) second grader and a kindergartner from Spring Hill (VA) tying for first place. In the third grade, two Churchill Road friends won all four games. In the fourth grade, another Churchill Road student took clear first place. The fifth grade section ended with another tie, with a student from Prince George’s County’s New Hope Academy tying with a student from Fairfax County’s Kent Gardens Elementary School, each winning all four games.

A D.C. resident attending St. Albans School took clear first in the sixth grade section, a Falls Church student from Henderson Middle School won the seventh grade section, a D.C. International Middle School student won the eighth grade section, and a Montgomery Blair freshman won the high school section.

 

A student visiting Washington from Estonia entered the tournament and extended the event’s cultural and geographic diversity. The diversity was the point of the tournament. Chess appeals to people from every background. The Chess Center brings together people from many locations and cultures to play. We have been proud to lead a chess trip to another country, and to arrange for internet matches with players from many other countries on four continents.

We expect this to become an annual event.

Big Chair Recognizes DC Chess Luminaries

Busboys & Poets in Anacostia hosted another Big Chair chess extravaganza on February 21, with a tournament and poetry slam. It was a sell-out event, with players turned away due to space limitations. Those who came played great chess, enjoyed provoking poetry, and heard from people who made DC chess history.

Eugene Brown and David Mehler
Wendell Hankins

Eugene Brown, the founder of the Big Chair Chess Club (Think B4U Move), returned to Washington to play in the tournament and give an inspiring talk to the assembled group. Wendell Hankins, now the Co-Chairman of the Big Chair Club, directed the tournament and served as Master of Ceremonies for the festivities.

Frank Street, who became the second Black master in the world about 60 years ago, described his history of competition to offer encouragement to the younger players competing, and Ralph Mikell, one of the founders of the DC Black Knights, spoke about its history.

Frank Street
Ralph Mikell

While gray hair was present among the speakers, the theme that chess can be played at every age predominated. The DC Black Knights remains active in the DC Chess League and runs an annual tournament every December. Mr. Street, while no longer competing in over the board tournaments, remains active on chess.com

Wendell Hankins and David Mehler
David Mehler and Frank Street

The U.S. Chess Center has connections to all of the luminaries. Mr. Mikell was the original Treasurer of the Center, a post he held for more than 20 years. Mr. Street sent his son to the Center’s classes when we were located at 1501 M Street, NW, downtown. Mr. Hankins was a student at the Center, and played in many of our tournaments, and Mr. Brown, who was portrayed by Cuba Gooding in the Hollywood production of Life of a King, [Trailer] worked with Center teachers teaching at Kimball Elementary School in Washington.

Some of the victorious players at The Poetic Checkmate on Saturday, February 21, 2026