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Chess has come alive in our life in the past week.  Last week, as you know, we found and supported a Kickstarter project for an all-girls Tucson Chess Tournament on April 13.  Anjelina Belakovskaia sought $1000 to stage the tourney but now has $1,514 pledged from 63 backers with ten days still to go.

Anjelina is a 3-Time U.S. Womenʼs Chess Champion, Woman International Grandmaster, World Champion among students (USSR Team) and Leader of the US Olympic Chess Team and she's proven great at keeping project supporters informed.  Here's her latest message:

"I just ordered 20 chess sets - pieces, boards and quiver bags, 10 digital Saitek chess clocks, 40 scorebooks, numerous chess books for prizes, WinTD pairing software, and other stuff - worth over $1,000! Next are trophies, medals, and more... I am so grateful for all the support I got from everyone! Without you, it wouldn't be possible."

"Hopefully, we will attract more girls into chess and science and give them more opportunities in chess, academics and life. I am so excited, I can't wait to run the event! If you are in Tucson on April 13th - please mark this date on your calendar and come to the 1st Chess & Science Festival."

We are so happy we found and helped fund this worthy project.  You can click here to keep an eye on the project's progress:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/249675593/1st-chess-and-science-festival-and-all-girls-chess

Meanwhile, we opened Ye Ol' Inbox this afternoon and, LO!, what should we find?  Not one but THREE emails from Carrie Scheid in Idaho Falls.  And, gosh, you'd never guess what the emails are about--CHESS.

As most of you know, we dearly love the game of chess, even though we aren't very good at it.  We've been playing chess since we were perhaps 7 or 8 years old.  You'd think we'd get better at it in almost 60 years but, no, that's not the way it works.  A case could be made that we were actually a better player 50 years ago than we are now.  However, we digress.

Carrie, as astute Loyal Blog Readers know, is the Art Bench Woman who waved her magic wand across the Idaho Falls Greenbelt and improved an already fine amenity by facilitating the addition of many marvelous art benches overlooking The Snake River.

Now Carrie is making magic happen yet again on behalf of CHESS!

Can you believe it?  It's like a dream come true for a Old Chess Codger like me.  Now matter which of the three designs below is selected for the latest and greatest Greenbelt Art Bench, chess players rejoice!  It's so exciting!  The two artists who submitted draft deigns just happen to have designed and crafted two of our favorite Art Benches--both of which just coincidentally happen to be situated in the famous Hilda McClure Garden at The Falls.  Yep, Roy Reynolds (with Jim Colson) did the wildly popular Geese Seats and Ronda Friesen did the now world famous Horse Bench.

THANK YOU, Carrie, for sprinkling another dose of your Magic Art Bench Fairy Dust on the Greenbelt!  These are awesome and I can't hardly wait to sit and play at whatever bench design wins.  Can you possibly imagine the joy of sitting beside the mighty Snake River playing chess on a warm summer morning? Check!

WHA-WHOOO!

 Ronda Friesen Chess Bears

Below is Ronda Friesen's Alternate design.

Below is the Roy Reynolds/Jim Colson design entitled "Checkmate."