Welcome to the April edition of One Move at a Time! Our guest today is IM Greg Shahade, who founded the US Chess School in 2006 and which resumes classes this year in a victory for a post-covid world. He also founded the New York Masters and the U.S. Chess League which is now known as the PRO Chess League. He is a former member of the Executive Board of US Chess. Greg won three national scholastic championships: tying for first in both the 1993 National Junior High School Championship and the 1996 National High School Championship, and winning the 1996 United States Junior Open outright. He won the prestigious Samford Fellowship, annually awarded by the U.S. Chess Trust to the top U.S. prospect under the age of 25, in 1999. His dad is FM Michael Shahade and his sister Jennifer is a two-time US Women’s Champion and our US Chess Women’s Program Director.

For the March edition of One Move at a Time, US Chess Senior Director of Strategic Communication Dan Lucas sits down with Tyler Schwartz, the co-founder of Chess at Three and Story Time Chess. Both companies use an original, story-based method to teach chess to children as young as three years old. This innovative method is explained in Tyler's 2018 TED Talk, “Can Three-Year-Olds Play Chess?”

Tyler is also a professional magician and currently performs in "Speak Easy Magick" at the McKittrick Hotel alongside the best magicians in New York City. 

Dan and Tyler discuss the recent success of his companies, the similarities between chess and magic, his frustration with misoriented chess boards, and about the time he “beat” GM Hikaru Nakamura at chess in an energy drink commercial.

Follow Tyler on Twitter and Instagram.

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“One Move at a Time,” is a monthly US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Listen to the whole family of US Chess podcasts at https://new.uschess.org/podcasts

Welcome to the February 2022 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Our guests today represent the Manasota Chess Center in Sarasota, Florida.  Nicholas Lewis is the Executive Director and Grandmaster Pascal Charbaneau supports the coaching and advisory team. Nicholas is a graduate of Florida State University with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. He has held diverse professional roles since graduation, which included professional violinist and conductor, software developer, copyright coordinator, Wikipedia administrator, product lead for Minds.com and, most recently, founder and executive director of the Manasota Chess Center.

Nicholas discovered chess during his freshman year at college, when he began playing with his college piano instructor,  which led to his piano lessons ending and morphing into weekly chess lessons instead. Nick later joined the college chess club and eventually became the president.  Under his leadership, the club held numerous tournaments, and grew from just eight to over 30 members.

After graduation, Nicholas moved to Sarasota, Florida.  He worked in the technology field for three years, before reinvigorating his passion for playing and teaching chess. During this time, he began pursuing the launch of a local community chess center in Sarasota.  The result of his efforts culminated with the formation in June 2021 of the Manasota Chess Center.  Today the Manasota Chess Center has grown to more than 50 members, and it now delivers a wide range of chess programs and activities that include monthly US Chess tournaments, chess study groups, and private and group chess lessons from US Chess certified coaches. Additionally, the coaching/advisory team includes two GMs, Pascal Charbonneau and Akshayraj Kore.

One of those GMs is joining us today. Pascal Charbonneau has twice been the Canadian Champion and he won over a dozen national championships as a junior. Pascal attended the University of Maryland Baltimore County on a scholarship when the chess team won the national championship four years in a row. He graduated in 2006 magna cum laude with a degree in financial economics and a secondary focus in Russian. After 2006, Pascal aimed his attention to the financial world. From 2008 to 2019 he worked at a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund as a key member of a small investment team.  He is currently senior portfolio manager with Vazirani Asset Management, an event-driven hedge fund. 

Welcome to the January edition of One Move at a Time and Happy New Year! Our guest today is David Llada, joining us via Skype from San Sebastian, Spain. David was our April 2021 guest, but I decided to interview him again focusing only on his behind-the-scenes work for the recently completed World Championship during with Magnus Carlsen successfully defended his title against Ian Nepomniachtchi.

David’s photos have often appeared in Chess Life and he has taken chess photos around the world. He has a book of his photos called, The Thinkers that you can purchase from US Chess Sales at uscfsales.com. In addition to journalism, David has been involved in the organizational side of Chess; being part of various organizational committees and frequently taking on the role of Chief Press Officer. With a background in journalism, public relations, online marketing and social media coupled with an extensive chess experience, he was a natural to become FIDE’s Chief Marketing and Communications Officer.

To give an idea of what David was going through behind the scenes, here is his Facebook post from November 18: "This afternoon I fell asleep on my laptop. Woke up 2,5 hours later with my face on the keyboard. Missed an appointment for dinner and I had nearly a hundred emails and whatsapp messages awaiting an answer. Yet I am enjoying the experience. I never thought I would organize a world championship match. Next best thing to playing in one, I guess."

Here is a gallery of World Championship behind-the-scenes images from Llada's Facebook page: https://new.uschess.org/news/one-move-time-january-edition-david-llada

Welcome to the December 2021 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Our guest today is Grandmaster Maxim Dlugy,  joining me in person from the 2021 National K-12 Grade Championships.  He is here doing a simul, all-comers blitz, and lecture. He was born in Moscow when it was still in the Soviet Union, and arrived with his family in the United States in 1977. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1985 andwas awarded the Grandmaster title in 1986 for his result at the World Chess Olympiad in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Dlugy was formerly ranked number one in the world by the World Blitz Chess Association. His best finishes in the U.S. Championship were 3rd place finishes in 1984 and 87. He was elected president of the United States Chess Federation in 1990. Dlugy was one of the campaign managers, along with Garry Kasparov, for Anatoly Karpov when he ran for FIDE President in  2010. 

​Welcome to the November 2021 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Our guest today is Brian Karen. Originally from Merrick, Long Island, Brian discovered chess around the age of 16 in the mid-80s. While in high school, he worked at the computer chess store, Your Move. After college graduation, he worked with emotionally disturbed children for 5 years at a group home/assessment center, but around 1997 he started teaching chess, which he has done ever since, often 7 days a week. He considers himself more chess fan than player, and he is passionate about chess history. When he studies, it is more for entertainment then improvement. As a chess player, he has hovered at 2100 for a few decades and has the FIDE CM title. He can even claim to have played a very young Nakamura and Caruana, among other Nassau Chess Club regulars.

Brian’s chess life includes playing internet chess since the 1980s, being one of the first ICC admins circa 1993, broadcasting the first tournament on the internet, providing beginner commentary on the IBM site for the deep blue match, and broadcasting the 1995 Anand – Kasparov world championship match from a glass booth above the players in the World Trade Center. 

I came to know Brian through Facebook, where he founded and administers the chess book collectors group , which has 43,000 members, and the fide world championship 2021 group, which boasts 56,000 members.  He is also a former US Chess volunteer on our scholastic council.

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Welcome to the October 2021 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Our guest today is Brian Flowers, the marketing manager for the World Chess Hall of Fame (WCHOF) and the buyer for their award-winning gift shop, Q Boutique, having worked with the organization since its Saint Louis opening in 2011. Brian has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in figure drawing and printmaking from Southeast Missouri State University. Brian also serves on the board of the Central West End Association, the neighborhood of the Saint Louis Chess Campus. In his free time, Brian enjoys playing chess casually, artmaking, and listening to David Bowie.

Links mentioned in the show:

World Chess Hall of Fame

WCHOF YouTube Channel

U.S. Chess Championships

World's Largest Chess Piece Instagram Page

Q Boutique

Welcome to the September 2021 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Our guest today is Stephanie Berk, the Chairperson of the Accessibility and Special Circumstances Committee- a volunteer position in US Chess. She is a mom of 4 boys ages ranging from ages 12- 20 years old, as well as a Cognitive Neuroscientist by training with a focus on Language Acquisition, Literacy, and Primary Auditory Cortex.  Her second-born "found" chess at the age of 9 in St. Louis, and now the whole family is involved with chess in various ways...  including their dog, "Rook."   Although Stephanie does not play chess herself, she feels strongly that it should be accessible to all who want to play, learn, or teach. Stephanie and her family now live on a small farm in Maryland.

Links mentioned in the show:

US Chess Accessibility Guidelines

August 2019 One Move at a Time with Martha Underwood

Stephanie Berk

Welcome to the August 2021 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Our guest today is Mike Nolan, a longtime employee, consultant, and volunteer for US Chess.  We recorded live at the 2021 U.S. Open in Cherry Hill, New Jersey on August 5. Mike was here because after serving as Parliamentarian for the Delegates Meetings from 1990 through 2016, he was tapped to serve again this year after the recent death of Ken Ballou.

Mike graduated from Northwestern in 1972 and received an MBA from the University of Nebraska in 1980. He has served as chair of the Scholastics, Bylaws, and Finance Committees. Many people now directly associate Mike with our IT systems; he first started talking to US Chess about IT issues in 1986, started working with us on database issues in 1998, became a paid consultant in 2004, and became an employee in 2013, finally retiring in 2016 but still advising us on IT issues as a consultant. He is the recipient of the Special Services Award and Distinguished Service Awards from US Chess. At home in Nebraska, he served as the Nebraska state president and editor of their magazine for several years.

Welcome to the July 2021 edition of “One Move at a Time,” the US Chess podcast in which Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess.”

Young was born in Korea and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 5, settling initially in Minnesota. He earned a degree in Math and English Literature at the University of Chicago.  After working at several failed software startups over the course of 10 years, he joined Intuit as a software engineer on QuickBooks, working there for 17 years until he retired in 2014, just as Christopher was starting to play chess.