Special Showing of "Chess Kids - Special Edition" by Producer Lynn Hamrick

Prior posts about our friend, Lynn Hamrick:

A Very Special Event to Benefit the National Scholastic Chess Foundation
October 25, 2011

Back Home Again! Wrap-Up on Trip To St Louis
September 13, 2011
(scroll down to entry on Lynn Hamrick under Chess Collectors International summary)

Meeting "Chess Kids" Producer Lynn Hamrick
September 9, 2011

From the Bronxville Patch.com

'Chess Kids' Provides A Unique Glimpse Into The Lives Of Prodigies

The National Scholastic Chess Foundation (NSCF) showcasing a special screening of Chess Kids, a documentary about the 1990 World Youth Chess Championship in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

By Monica Orbe

Chess Kids, directed by Lynn Hamrick, follows several preteens and teens as they compete at the highest levels of chess during the first and last World Youth Chess Championship held in the US.

Presented by the National Scholastic Chess Foundation (NSCF), Chess Kids will be screened at The Picture House in Pelham, located at 175 Wolfs Lane, on Nov. 5 at 2 p.m.

Sunil Weeramantry, NSCF Executive Director and chess master, thinks this film will be a source of inspiration for young kids.

Weeramantry, who himself was a young chess prodigy, says, "Chess brought a sense of order to my life early on… because you had to function within certain constraints…and strategize on a broader level."

Themes like how competing at this level effects children will be discussed in the film and as a special addition, there will be new footage of these young competitors as they are now, twenty years later, which will allow them to expound on that time in their life.

"[Kids] will see what’s going on with other kids as they went through a chess tournament," says NSCF board member and Bronxville resident, Betsy Harding, believing that this film will provide validation for kids who enjoy chess.

NSCF is a non-profit organization set up to provide and support an infrastructure for programs teaching chess in school. The film will conclude with a Q&A as well as a fundraising reception to benefit NSCF.

"Having Lynn here to talk about the film is a great opportunity because we will be able to ask her questions about how she made the film," which as Harding says, "…makes it a much more interesting event."
Lynn Muscari, who has two boys at Immaculate Conception School in Tuckahoe and says that she hopes this film gets her boys excited about playing chess.

"They have always loved playing but are looking for more of a way to become involved with it throughout the state and even nationally," said Muscari.

Admission to the film is $20 and will include a small drink and popcorn. A minimum contribution of $75 is required to attend the reception and Q&A.

A Very Special Event to Benefit the National Scholastic Chess Foundation

Last month I visted St. Louis, Missouri to attend a meeting of Chess Collectors International that coincided with the start of the Kings v. Queens Chess Tournament at the "St. Louis Chess Club" and the grand opening (right across the street from the chess club) of the World Chess Hall of Fame and Museum.  I met many wonderful people!  One of my favorites is Lynn Hamrick.

It's one of those coincidences that is no coincidence that just last night I finished viewing Part 2 of Lynn's great award-winning video Chess Kids - Where They Are Now.  I had watched Part 1 a few evenings before, and became totally absorbed in the experiences of several children playing in various age brackets of the 1990 World Youth Chess Championships held in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin!  The respective winners of the "Boys" and "Girls" Sections were:
Under 14:

1990

Fond du Lac (United States)

Judit Polgár (Hungary)

Diana Darchia (Soviet Union)

Under 12:

1990

Fond du Lac (United States)

Boris Avrukh (Soviet Union)

Corina Peptan (Romania)

Under 10:

1990

Fond du Lac (United States)

Nawrose Farh Nur (United States)

Evelyn Moncayo Romero (Ecuador)

1990 - Fond du Lac, USA - (July 14 - July 22) - Wisconsin's Marian College hosted the 5th World Youth Festival, which attracted 170 players from 44 nations. With federation officials and parental entourages, this number swelled to more than 300. It was the first time that the USA had hosted a chess event of this size and importance and the accommodation and conditions received high praise from the competitors. Judit Polgár celebrated victory on her fourteenth birthday (23 July), by taking the gold medal in the Boys U-14 event. This was the second occasion on which she had successfully competed in the Boys category. Her father, Laszlo Polgar, pointed out that Judit's last three 'world' competitions, including the Thessaloniki Olympiad, had resulted in a score of +26 =9 -0. Vasily Emelin of the USSR and Gabriel Schwartzman of Romania finished in silver and bronze medal places. Russia's Diana Darchia won the corresponding Girls' U-14 event from the USSR's Inna Gaponenko and Hungarian Monika Grabics. In the Boys U-12, Boris Avrukh outdistanced second placed John Viloria and third placed Peter Leko. Corina Peptan was triumphant in the Girls U-12, ahead of Monika Bobrowska and Nikoletta Lakos. In the Boys U-10, Nawrose Nur won by a good margin from the Romanian Alin Berescu and Adrien Leroy of France. Ecuador's Evelyn Moncayo took gold in the Girls U-10, while Claudia Bilciu of Romania and Jovanka Houska of England took silver and bronze, respectively. New In Chess Best Game awards were chaired by Arnold Denker and won by Judit Polgár, Yvonne Krawiec, Tal Shaked, Corina Peptan, Francisco Vallejo Pons and Claudia Bilciu. Polgar made it a clean sweep by winning an Under-14 Blitz tournament from Vasily Emelin and Ronan Har-Zvi of Israel.

--- CHESS magazine Vol 55. October p. 5 and November p. 26

Early this morning I received an email from - Lynn Hamrick!   

Lynn is teaming up with the National Scholastic Chess Foundation in a fund-raiser for a very worthy cause, and a special screening of the new edition of Chess Kids will be held:

Chess Kids

A documentary by Lynn Hamrick

Please join Sunil Weeramantry and the National Scholastic Chess Foundation teachers at a special screening of this award-winning film followed by a question and answer session with director and producer Lynn Hamrick

Saturday, November 5 2 P.M.

at The Picture House 175 Wolfs Lane Pelham, New York

$20 per person for admission, small popcorn, and drink

Chess Kids follows the progress of a group of talented students at the 1990 World Youth Chess Championship in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and rejoins them as adults

“The most realistic portrayal of tournament chess I’ve seen”-Jack Peters of the Los Angeles Times

* * * * * * * * *

Reception with Lynn Hamrick to benefit the NSCF 4 to 5:30 PM – following the screening

 Bistro Rollin 142 Fifth Avenue, Pelham, New York (4 blocks from the Picture House)

RSVP: To pay by credit card go to NSCFCHESS.ORG

For more information call the NSCF at 914-683-5322

NSCF Chess Movie and Reception - register online or print-out mail-in form

Movie Details

Details on Reception with Lynn Hamrick

Please help support this wonderful organization that helps chess kids - and give a shout out to Lynn, too. She is a great producer and one fabulous lady.

Meeting "Chess Kids" Producer Lynn Hamrick

So, there 'Sis and I were, nattering away with the clerks at Bissiger's and there is Lynn, who asked if we were in St. Louis for the chess doings and we said yes, and the rest, as they say, is herstory!

Lynn produced programming related to or involving children for many years when she was inspired by an article she read about a then very-young Judit Polgar, who at the time was the youngest person ever to earn a GM title.  The ultimate result of what grew into a project was her award-winning video, Chess Kids.

Lynn recently did follow-up interviews with many of the now grown-up protaganists of her original video, some of the most brilliant chessplayers then (and now), in the world, which have been added as a post-script to the original video.

To say Lynn, 'Sis and I had an engrossing and wide-ranging conversation would be an understatement :)

Chess Kids and its post-script will be screened at the Harwood Museum of Art in Taos, New Mexico, on September 17, 2011, introduced by Lynn herself.  Read more.

Lynn is giving a presentation on Chess Kids and its update at the Chess Collectors International meeting here in St. Louis on Saturday 9/10 at 3:00 p.m.  We have found a new friend whose interests overlap so beautifully with our own, and we will stay in touch!  Lynn, thanks for Chess Kids and thanks to the Goddess Serendipity that led to our meeting!

More Exploring St. Louis

Hola darlings!  I finally got Isis stirring around noon when I went in with alarm bells and a fresh cup of black coffee, strong the way she likes.  LOL!  Poor 'Sis!

I mercilessly badgered her until she finally got ready and we left the uncleaned suite about 1:30 p.m. or so - far too late to do any of the things we'd planned the night before, but definitely well-rested.  Wouldn't you know it, we round the corner on Maryland Avenue and I show 'Sis the fountain near Bissinger's, famous for its chocolates, desserts and apertif-wines.  Sis sits down at the edge of the fountain and is looking through something or other when I snap a photo, and then another when she looks up.  Beautiful pictures! Then the fountain goes off and she jumps up and runs toward me.  Then she wants to take my photo in front of the fountain.  Disaster strikes in the form of a recalcitrant fountain that refuses to behave decently.  It douses me once with water; twice; three times.  I found myself 30 seconds later in jeans that look like I'd peed in my pants, and felt like it too.  Damn!

Meanwhile, it starts raining again so, not only am I sopped from the fountain, my frizzy hair (reacted to all the humidity from the rain) is now hanging down in my eyes and I can't see a thing, but is otherwise plastered on the sides of my face.  I look hideous.  To Bissiger's, WE'RE GOING IN HERE, 'SIS.  PERIOD.

And so, we went...

Bless my soul, besides the two clerks behind the counter we were the only souls in the place.  I gesture 'Sis toward the counter displays of mouth-watering chocolates.  That's all I had to do...

I had read about Bissiger's online before arrriving here under "Things to do while you're in St. Louis blah blah....  As I noticed the shop yesterday, right around the corner from the hotel entrance/exit we've been using, it was a no brainer that we would stop in sometime during our stay. 

OHMYGODDESS!

We stayed for two hours - but not eating and drinking the entire time -- more to tell about that.  Although let me tell you, darlings, the very nice young lady who whipped up 'Sis's hot chocolate made a mini-cup of hot chocolate for me anyway, even though I had not ordered anything but was looking intently at all of the various exotic chocolates for sale.  You can spend an hour just looking at all of the deliciousness on display at Bissiger's, trying to decide what to buy.  It's exhausting work, but someone has to do it.  The nice clerk acutely deduced that I needed a chocolate fix but was not ready for a massive dose - and she acted accordingly.  I predict that young lady will someday run Bissiger's - or be President of the US.  I ultimately purchased some chocolates for a couple of friends where I work, after having sampled one -- it was something like chocolate apple hot pepper salt heaven, or something like that.  I have NEVER tasted anything like it. That chocolate had an after-taste impossible to describe, but absolutely incredible (in a good way).  Let me tell you, the recipients of these small boxes of chocolates will be kissing my stinky feet for the next 10 years for those chocolates, they are that good!

The other clerk at the counter, a young man, was very knowledgeable about the chocolates and the various recipes and history associated with them, and he and 'Sis happily yattered on about the origins of chocolate from the Mayan civilization.  I noshed on a sample of the chocolate apple hot pepper salt heaven and was absolutely entranced when the young man told me that I could order as many or as few pieces of that chocolate, or any other, in the store, and have them gift-boxed.  SOLD!  I never bothered to inquire how much it might cost, those two clerks made entering Bissiger's such a delightfull experience I would have paid a lot just to accomodate them.  I gave the male clerk a nice tip in my purchase.  He was so knowledgeable and not condescending, I asked a few questions about the wines on display and he knew about them, too. 

'Sis and I believe in tipping.  We're both minimum 20 percenters.  Most servers and clerks work very hard for minimum wages and they can and often do take a lot of abuse.  Just because people have to work for a living doesn't mean they can be treated like dirt!  The Bible rightly says that a worker is worthy of his (or her) hire, and we act accordingly.  And it is such a pleasure to engage in intelligent and enlightening conversation with people uniquely knowledgeable about the products they are selling or in the case of servers, serving in a restaurant.  They know the restaurant they work in.  We have noticed that, unfortunately, tipping does not seem to be a common practice amongst some of our fellow chessites here at the hotel.  Disappointing...what can possibly be an excuse for being a cheapskate?

But - back to Bissiger's!  As we were finishing up, another woman came into view at the counter where we were nattering away with the clerks and because 'Sis and I weren't making any effort to be private in our conversation - we were talking about the chess doings we'd come to St. Louis to be part of - the lady said oh, are you here for... and we said yes... and that is how we met producer Lynn Hamrick.

See the next post about our meeting Lynn!