Chess players hunker down for all-nighter

Mayor Nutter was scheduled Friday night to make the "first ceremonial" move in the opening match of the Checkmate Violence 24-Hour Chess Marathon at Temple University.

Nutter decided to play the entire game.

His opponent: 9-year-old Janiya Ashlock.

When it was over, Ashlock, a fourth grader at Bache-Martin Elementary School, had used a queen and bishop to pin Nutter's king - the only piece he had left.

How long did it last? "Four and a half hours," a Nutter aide said, half-joking.

It actually ran about 45 minutes.

Nutter told the assembled children and their parents and coaches that chess teaches "concentration and paying attention to what's going on, anticipating moves many steps ahead. It's a lot like life."

It was the start of the third year of the chess marathon, brainchild of Gil F. Motley, a chess coach at six city schools.

"I figure if they have dance marathons, why not chess marathons?" Motley said.

The first year drew about 250 children, he said. Last year, about 300 participated, and he was hoping for the same or more this time around. The last two years, about 60 children each time stayed up the entire 24 hours, he said.

"I'll be thinking about all of you at about 2 or 3 o'clock this morning," Nutter said in his opening remarks. "But I'll be asleep."

The goal of the event, Motley said, is to encourage children to take up activities such as chess and stay off the streets and out of trouble.

William Huang, 14, a ninth grader at Constitution High School, enjoys chess because it is a "mind game," he said.

What do other kids say when they find out he's in the high school chess club?

"They call me a nerd, but I don't care," Huang said.

Marcus Doe, 17, also a student at Constitution High, said some other students think chess is a waste of time, but "they just don't feel what I feel with it."

He also noted, "Even cool people play chess."

Jowel Ammons, 15, a student at Philadelphia Military Academy at Leeds, said he hoped to become a chess grand master someday.

"I've come too far to use chess just as an extracurricular activity," he said.

But if he doesn't attain that lofty status, Ammons said, he would still play chess "till the day I die."

After the mayor left, 20 students prepared to face off against Jennifer Shahade, a 1998 graduate of Masterman High School who became a two-time American Women's Chess Champion as well as an author and semiprofessional poker player.

Other planned events included a speed chess tournament, a chess coaches tournament, and a five-round main tournament Saturday.

Registration for the main tournament is from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m., with the competition starting at 10.

The event, at Temple's Gittis Student Center at 13th Street and Montgomery Avenue, was organized by After School Activities Partnerships and sponsored by Peco Energy Co.

The Philadelphia Youth Chess Challenge is the partnership's largest program, with 4,000 youths playing weekly, the organization said.

To learn more about the partnership, call 215-545-2727 or visit phillyasap.org.