Contact: Chip Rose
UMBC News
410-455-5793
crose@umbc.edu

With 32 pieces and seemingly infinite strategies to contend with, it is difficult enough for most chess players to stay on top of their own games. Multiply that challenge by the more than 90 elementary through high school students participating in the Friends of Benjamin Banneker Museum’s Chess Day for a real concentration challenge. That is exactly what UMBC master Battsetseg Tsagaan and a few other local chess players will do at the Banneker Day of Chess on Saturday, March 5, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the museum, 300 Oella Avenue in Catonsville.

Tsagaan, a UMBC chess team member originally from Mongolia,is ranked No. 11 among U.S. women by the U.S. Chess Federation. While she is known in chess circles as “the Mongolian Terror,” she has shown her softer side to young Howard County students, introducing them to the game and serving as their coach and mentor. Tsagaan will also run the tournament at the Banneker Day of Chess. Joe Summer, president of the Catonsville Chess Club, will assist her.

According to Arthur Trush, Chess Day chair and board member of the Friends of Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum (BBHPM), the event draws students from Baltimore and Howard Counties, Baltimore City, and from area church chess clubs. Many students playing in the tournament are involved in chess programs offered by Baltimore County Gifted and Talented programs. Prizes and certificates will be awarded to the children for competing and improving their playing and Thinking skills.

Registration ended on February 23rd.