N.Y.C.'s youthful masters of the chessboard

A sports writer looks at the unlikely rise of America's best high school chess team.

from the March 6, 2007 edition

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"The Kings of New York" is a terrific read. Weinreb, a sportswriter who knew little about chess until he stumbled onto this story, examines not only the development of the Murrow team, but also the history of chess in New York City schools.

He looks back at Bobby Fischer's 1972 chess match with Boris Spassky, which energized chess enthusiasts throughout the United States and sparked the idea of what he calls "chess as charity," eventually bringing the game to city school kids. (A free in-school middle school program accounts for the development of about half of Murrow's best players.)

He also tells of the amazing influx of fresh talent that poured into New York City with the crumbling of the former Soviet Union. (The other half of Murrow's stars are the children of East Bloc immigrants.)

Weinreb melds such history lessons with thumbnail sketches of an unusual cast of characters: the young players themselves, the adult talent who nurtured their love of chess, and the different donors who – for various reasons of their own – have kept these programs afloat.

The result is a book that reads like a Robert Altman film – quick cuts of quirky, intertwined story lines. Odd characters step in and out of a narrative that's taut and energetic and eschews any easy sentiment.

Don't imagine, however, that as a reader this will prevent you from feeling for these kids. On the contrary, you'll be surprised by the degree to which you'll find yourself perched on the edge of your chair, aching to see one of the most winning young chess teams in America pull it off yet again.

Chess can seem a remote and esoteric pursuit – but not when glimpsed through these eager young eyes.

• Marjorie Kehe is the Monitor's book editor. Send comments to Marjorie Kehe

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