One Move at a Time

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.  

Welcome to the June 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 Alan Losoff, a retired Vice President at Bank of America who is best known these days as the impresario of the National Open. He is President of Nevada Chess, but he has also served as president of the Minnesota and Illinois affiliates and VP of the Wisconsin one. He carries the National Tournament Director, FIDE Arbiter, and International Organizer titles. He is the current acting chair of the US Chess Rules Committee and is a past chair of the Bylaws Committee. In addition to the National Open, he has organized such events as the Las Vegas Chess Festival, the Senior and the K-12 Grade Championships. He has been an IT consultant and occasional part time employee for both US Chess and ICC.

This month's guest is Russ Makofsky. Russ is the Founder & Director of Impact Coaching Network which partners with 18 Elementary Schools across New York City, engaging over 4,000 students annually. Quoting from their website, “ICN was founded with the vision of establishing a network of high performing chess programs, where each school embodies their own unique chess culture while still maintaining a network-wide commitment to excellence.”

He also founded The Gift of Chess, which is giving away 10,000 chess sets to 10,000 NYC public school students, and Her Move Next, which is Empowering future female leaders through the blending of chess, competition, and community.

​Welcome to the April 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.”

This month's guest is David Llada. David has long been connected to the chess world and in 1999 he became a professional chess journalist, publishing contributions in all the world’s major chess magazines as well as in “El Mundo”, Spain’s second largest newspaper. His photos have often appeared in Chess Life and he has taken chess photos around the world in such exotic locations as Shanghai, Las Vegas, New York, Moscow, Istanbul, and Zurich. 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.

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This episode touches on FM Jon Jacobs' 50+ years as an amateur competitor, his pending upsets book The Fish That Roared, his time as a pioneer anti-cheating activist during the mid-2000s, the dozen Chess Life articles he has authored since 2005, and his new project in collaboration with IM Yury Lapshun to drive international chess tourism to important locations in chess history, starting with a few sites in the New York City area. (For an introduction to the latter, see the December 2020 Chess Life article, “Pugilists at Rest,” which provides detailed directions for visiting the graves of Steinitz and Lasker.)

Welcome to the February edition of One Move at a Time. Our guest today is FIDE Master Wesley Wang, who along with his brother Warren Wang founded the non-profit Chessanity in 2014, which has a  mission to teach and promote chess among K-12 students around Long Island, New York to build self-esteem and cognitive outreach. Wesley has a peak rating of 2441 and has been Silver Medalist at the  2019 North American Youth Chess Championships (U18 Open) and 2016 North American Youth Chess Championships  (U12 Open). He has been a member of the All-America Chess Team from 2016-2020, and a member of the 20176 and 2017 U.S. Amateur Team East Championship Teams. This just briefly touches on his many and varied chess accomplishments, and on top of this he is an accomplished badminton player and aspiring film maker. Welcome to One Move at a Time, Wesley Wang.

This month’s guest is is Dr. Mark Taylor talking about chess fiction and narrative--we thought this would be a fun time to have this discussion as The Queen's Gambit continues to be popular on Netflix, and of course it was based on Walter Tevis' 1984 novel. 

Taylor is an Associate Professor of English at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. He is currently at work on Chess and Chessic Motifs in English Prose Narrative Since 1700: An Annotated Bibliography, a comprehensive work featuring approximately 2000 entries. Berry earned his PhD in English Literature in 1995 at the University of Texas at Austin. He teaches freshman writing and medieval and renaissance literature. He published over 200 articles in various chess periodicals between 2002 and 2015, including  the December 2012 Chess Life cover story “The White Collection: Exploring the largest chess library in the world.” awarded the “Best Feature Article” by Chess Journalists of America. He has been editor of Georgia Chess and The Chess Journalist. His son Paul Taylor was an accomplished scholastic player who reached an expert rating, and his wife Melinda is our Publications Editor at US Chess.

Welcome to the December 2020 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.”

This month’s guest is is John Davison Rockefeller V, who is the catalyst for our December 2020 Chess Life cover story announcing his $3 million gift to US Chess. He is a chess dad, Scholastic Director of the Maryland Chess Association, and active volunteer helping US Chess, especially as chair of the Development Committee and vice-chair of the Scholastic Council. His father is John Davison “Jay” Rockefeller IV, a governor of and U.S. senator from West Virginia who was instrumental in the creation of National Chess Day.

This month’s guest is Tim Just, a National Tournament Director and a FIDE  National Arbiter and editor of the US Chess Rule Book since the 5th edition (we’re on the 7th edition now). He is the co-author of My Opponent Is Eating a Doughnut (with Wayne Clark) and Just Law: Common-sense answers to frequently asked questions on chess rules, regulations, and policy from players, tournament directors, and organizers. He is the longtime chair of the Tournament Director Certification Committee, current TDCC member, and a longtime Rules Committee member. His byline has appeared on the TD Corner column in Chess Life plus on the Rulebook Tactics column in the Illinois Chess Bulletin, and he has a monthly column on Chess Life Online titled, “Just the Rules.” He facilitates both rules and tournament director workshops. He has performed countless stints as a staff member or chief TD at national, state, and local scholastic and adult tournaments. He is a longtime US Chess Delegate and recipient of the US Chess Outstanding Career Achievement, US Chess Tournament Director of the Year, and US Chess Committee of the Year awards.