After meeting Magnus Carlsen and watching the best 11- and 12-year olds on the planet battle for gold, perhaps you wish to spend an evening watching a movie--indeed, a heart-warming chess documentary. Starting tonight, this dream becomes reality as the popular film Brooklyn Castle makes its Bay Area debut at the Landmark Opera Plaza (601 Van Ness) in San Francisco. Click here for a schedule of about five daily screenings.
Although it is a chess movie, the main conflict has less to do with the 64 squares and more with how an inner city school achieved success at the national level against all odds. In an era of crippling school budget cuts, what role can a game such as chess play in the classroom, or even as an organized extracurricular activity? For minority kids attending I.S. 318 in the Bronx, chess meant an alternative to TV, drugs and gangs. Here is a film review from the Chronicle.
As the trailer proclaims: "Imagine a school where the cool kids are the chess team."
After the 7:15pm screening on Saturday 11/17, IM Daniel Naroditsky will host a Q&A session. Daniel, who recently turned 17, is a former World U12 champion and now the author of two (!) chess books.
(The showtimes originally scheduled for Berkeley have been postponed.)
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