The Barbara Rose School Chess Tournament was held on June 9th 2012 at the Barbara Rose Elementary Chess School in Barrington, Illinois. There were 92 players who competed in the tournament, over 100 visitors and another 10 students and 10 adults who volunteered in a variety of roles to make the tournament an educational success. Four sections in the tournament were USCF rated but there was also a non rated section for new players to be introduced to chess tournaments. It was exciting for the players to be able to go over their games with special guest Woman’s Grandmaster Anna Sharevich from Belarus and Woman’s International Master Viktoria Ni.

Another star attraction to the tournament was Gourmet Cook Rima Said from Amman, Jordan who led the volunteer team as they served homemade Middle Eastern food. The mission of Chess Without Borders is to combine chess education with service and philanthropy and this was well served by the team of ten student and ten adult helpers. Students were exposed to the rich world of service and philanthropy by learning valuable skills such as public speaking, hospitality, leadership, organization, cooperation, accounting, cooking and most importantly cleaning up. The tournament raised $700 for the King Hussein Cancer Foundation in Jordan and proudly submitted the check to Ms Rima Said from Jordan.

Local businesses Bertacchi Builders and Nature’s Farm generously donated supplies for the tournament.

Picture of some of the volunteers donating the money to Ms Rima Said for the King Hussein Cancer Foundation.

Students develop confidence and create their own projects as a direct result of the social entrepreneurship fostered through the program.  An example of  this was 2nd  grader Ethan Gagliano who donated $50 at the tournament for sending a little girl living in the slums of India to summer school. Ethan addressed the crowd telling them that he wanted to keep aside some of the money he was given at his 1st communion for this little girl with very few opportunities.

Picture of Ethan speaking to the crowd with Ms Gruber and CEO of the tournament Zachary George (in the red shirt) looking on.

Ron Swanson, a local businessman and musician who has been volunteering with Chess Without Borders has invented an object that can be fitted on string instruments to make them more personal. Ron has a Patent pending and some investors have already made an investment in his product. Ron has called his invention Tuneroos.

Ron is an inspiration to so many chess students as he volunteers with them expressing ideas and demonstrates the connection between art and service. The rich diversity of volunteers from all age groups and ethnicities promotes an environment of learning and ideas as each one interacts with each other. Ron has introduced new methods of fund raising to students and they have responded with enthusiasm and  followed his example. Zander and Aidan Kitchen along with Madison Rossi will be spearheading Marketing for the documentary “A Future for Meher” with the ideas that Ron has shared with them.

We congratulate Ron on his accomplishment.

Hough School Chess Tournament raised $5160 under the Leadership of Dominic Oetinger. Ninety eight students played in the tournament while 37 diverse group of volunteers  excelled in their tasks from feeding crowds, cooking, collecting money, playing music, shooting pictures, selling raffle tickets, entertaining guests to being assistant tournament directors. 800 hours of service were provided to make this event possible. Dominic with the assistance of his mother Denise Oetinger had worked hard to enlist players. He had visited several school chess clubs informing them about the event.Because of the example set by Dominic 15 other students have volunteered to work towards qualifying for this award next year.

Rich Ni, Madison Rossi and Scott McKellin received Presidential Volunteer Service Awards for volunteering 100 hours over this last year.They are seen here with Teacher Maggie Gruber the host at the tournament.

A special thank you to Principal Ms Laurie Wilcox who visited the school with her daughter. She is seen here with other volunteers.

Dominic Oetinger is a student at Hough Street School where he is also involved in the chess club. Dominic with the assistance of his mother will be the President of the Hough Street Chess Tournament coming up this month on the 25th. In collaboration with local businesses and students and parents Dominic will try to raise funds for little Meher who lives in the opposite end of the world in India. Meher was severely burnt in a fire when she was an infant and over the last 3 years the chess community has raised almost $26,000 to help her have several surgical procedures on her face and hands. Students and their families working within the chess community are now helping Meher receive an education. Meher lives in the slums of Delhi, India and without this help she would have had no future. For more information a video about this project can be seen at  http://www.vimeo.com/17509410.

Students like Dominic have enthusiastically  given their time and service for this cause but in turn have built an understanding and developed valuable skills such as enterprise, generosity and initiative as they work together. These social entrepreneurs have learned to collaborate with all age groups, engaged in the various art forms, and have set themselves on a path to serve and commit towards qualifying for the Presidential Service Award over the next year.

Above is a picture of Dominic on the left with another student at the Hough School chess club.

We are proud of our students and enjoy working on projects with them that make a difference in our world. A video updating the documentary, A Future for Meher” will be filmed during the tournament to help others understand the service done by our volunteers to have made this possible.