Speed chess is Kung-Fu for Chess Players

Two top grandmasters, Maxim Dlugy and Hikaru Nakamura, battle it out in a 1-minute blitz game after the U.S. Championship. IM Ben Finegold comments on the side.

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The Beginning of Wisdom...

Seek the truth....

Say this 10 times fast...

   For chess sets as beautiful as they are affordable visit

  www.thechesspiece.com 

I shot, crossbows and toss flows across moats

To pierce the archer's armor, armed with arrows

Pole points from elbows, with joints joined with marrow

To maim, the tip of the arrows lit with flame

Checkmate - the death of your king ends the game.

You're not a father 'cause you gotta son, unless you're takin' care of him

HHCF Featured in the California Health Report

Hip Hop, Chess, Martial Arts Aid Youth Through Life from Marnette Federis on Vimeo.


This is so huge. I cannot even put it into words. So many people wrote off our initial ideas...many laughed. But now you can look directly into the eyes of some of the kids we have have helped. Enjoy it...I hope to share more soon. BTW, big announcement next  week. BIG...

Kids from Balboa & Lincoln Visit John O'Connell To Celebrate Black History Month

So today was the OC Black History Month assembly. It was pretty cool. A lot of history was shared and the students loved it. After an African dance ceremony they had some one of the kids at OC in a turf dance crew called So Random Inc. hit the floor. If you have never seen jerking(its not just the dance, but a series of movements), its a mix of strutting, popping and freestyle dance that is super popular in The SF Bay Area...Anyway, one of the students requested two of his partners from Balboa & Lincoln HS come out. The schools agreed and they gave a great show.

After the performance, some of the kids gathered outside for a freestyle rap battle and it was pretty bangin'. There is no doubt that the young generation of Hip-Hop fanatics have many gifts. Here area few shots....

I love to see kids from different Bay Area schools performing together. Back in the 80's, it was impossible...It almost always ended in violence...many times in gunfire...So, it was heartwarming to see the youth come together in Black History Month and use Hip-Hop dance and battle rap as a platform for peace.

Prison Letters: An Inmate Writes HHCF

You never know how what you do will affect the world. You can only try from your heart with the best intentions and the best plan you can devise and let things unfold as history sees fit...The HHCF was basically an idea I had held in my mind since the 1980's (I know, I'm getting up there). I have spoken at San Quentin Penitentiary, Vacaville Penitentiary and DVI. All of those visits volunteering to help prisoners changed me forever. But it was a visit to a juvenile hall in San Francisco that really germinated the seed and inspired the formation of the Hip-Hop Chess Federation. After visiting a few juve's I decided to never go back to prisons. Mainly because I felt like Frederick Douglass that "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. "

I still feel that way for the most part. But then I got a letter from an inmate who read the story about us in the San Jose Mercury. I will not tell you his name (we will call him SJA) , but I felt compelled to share some of his thoughts with you here:

I think its pretty cool what you are doing for these kids out here...Thats all most of these kids need, guidance, support, love, and inspiration. I wanted to take time to thank y'all and people like y'all that step up and teach the young ones...and keep them away from gangs and drugs...I was just a confused little boy...So I got caught up in what we call "the lifestyle", "thug life", "mi vida loca"....I went on from robbing, hustlin' gangbangin', to The Hall, Jail and to prison...I'm facing 30 years...On parole, I've never been out more than a month...What I'm trying to say is is its good to see people helping teens not follow in the paths of our footsteps...I just wish I could have found people like y'all when I was growing up...Maybe my life would have been different...When I read your section and seen what you got going for teens it put a smile on my face...Because I know what it feels like to grow up with nothing."

I wrote him some things about redemption, discipline and focus. I think he should have the letter in a day or so if he does not already have it. I will keep you guys in the loop as things evolve. Who knows...I might take HHCF into the prisons...

Highlight Clips from HHCF V-Day Tournament!

If you don't know Dessa you betta ask somebody!!

This was a few years ago, but it was so cool. 9 Queens rocks!!

I look forward to working more with them in 2012...

House of Flying Daggers is so beautiful

I love bamboo...Its so pretty when its moving in the wind...