#GetBetterAtChess Dereque Kelley Shows the Four Knights Opening.

This guy has some of the best opening videos. He shows the move and WHY it is done and WHAT most people will try to do to stop them. I don't watch his video's enough, but in a perfect world, I would watch these every single day. Now, sit down and let's #GetBetterAtChess

Nonviolent Rap Song of the Week #7 Erase Racism by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo

In light of Charlottesville and all the racial division in America right now I wanted to post this song. It was weird because my life got crazy and I got away from posting. But now that I see our country so divided I wanted to share some of the wisdom from one of Hip-Hop's best gangsta rap artists. Kool G Rap is arguably of the most underappreciated rappers in the history of the art.

Despite having a noticeable lisp, this guy has ripped so many mics it is hard for me to share with you how amazing his is. He was super frightening at the time to be honest. His vivid lyricism was always on point and on time. If you don't know his work I highly recommend starting with Streets of NY.

On his Wanted Dead or Alive album he had placed a jewel in the midst of his mayhem. Erase Racism was a song he did with Big Daddy Kane and Biz Markie. The result is a timeless classic that America could learn from right now. This song is also proof that mainstream media ignored a lot of the most powerful messages on world peace ever made in the history of music. Again, this is just ONE song from Hip-Hop. No song from jazz, rock, classical or blues can match the magic of Erase Racism.

    Kool G Rap and DJ Polo's Wanted Dead or Alive was one of the hardest gangsta rap albums ever.

Check out this portion of G Rap's verse:

So don't be foolish if you're Jewish or Hindu
The racial manual is the evil that men do
I was raised in a nation of Asian
Hate shouldn't separate Jamaican from Haitian
So if you're givin in your ears I hope your hear me and
Siberian's no better than Nigerian
I bring a rattle to a battle that you see me in
I'm no villain so why would I be killin Indians
My nationality's reality
And yo a prejudiced man is of a devil mentality
These are words of a wise man, wisdom
Take a taste and erase the racism


WATCH the video to Erase Racism

To see the fully annotated lyrics of Erase Racism visit Rap Genius.

To read more about nonviolence in Hip-Hop read Bobby, Bruce & the Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess  on Amazon or Smashwords.

Nonviolent Song of the Week #6 Just A Moment by Nas and Quan

Nas is one of the best rappers to ever hold the mic. On Just A Moment he and Quan hit hard on the topic of trauma and loss in urban cities. No way you can listen to this and not walk away understanding every hood coast to coast and all in between has Turf War Syndrome also known as PTSD. There are some curse words in this. So, kids get your parents permission. 

WATCH: Just a Moment  by Nas and Quan 

Read the annotated lyrics at Rap Genius 

Get Better at Chess with this Endgame Lesson!!

Josh Waitzkin always said you start by understanding endgames. I thought this was so weird at first. Over time, I saw its genius. Most people jump into things without really knowing what they want the ending to look like. This can be in chess, or in life.

I think learning endgame concepts is crucial in chess and in life. Enjoy!!

Nonviolent Rap Song of the Week #5 Peace to my Enemies by T-K.A.S.H.

T-K.A.S.H. illustrates how Hip-Hop was growing up long before Jay Z dropped 4:44. I will NEVER disrespect Jigga. He's been doing this thing in a major way. However, the same mainstream media that seems so appreciative of his growth is the same media the ignores the tens of thousands of artists who have been pushing intelligent, thoughtful rhymes for many years. Dad rap beeeeeen here, is all I'm saying. This song is 7 years old. It was put out on Guerilla Funk Records which has put out a lot of politically polarizing music, but this artist and this album, Brains All Over the Streets never got its proper due in the press. Nevertheless, the streets were feeling it.

Keep in mind, T-K.A.S.H. is the same artists who did the song Turf War Syndrome (the hood term for PTSD) long before a lot of folks were recognizing the impact of the violence on the kids in the hood. Enjoy this. I always do.

LISTEN: Peace to My Enemies 

Bobby Bruce & the Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess Selected for Preservation at Cornell Hip-Hop Collection

So my book #BobbyBruceandtheBronx was selected by the Hip-Hop Collection at Cornell University to be preserved for future generations. This is me with Ben Ortiz where He holds my book next to one of my favorite albums Yo Bum Rush The Show by PE. To see some of the records, photos and books my book will be preserved with was and is one of the most amazing moments of my life. Amazing because you don't know how lost I was as a teen and young adult.

Amazing because I was a Hip-Hop journalist when most people didn't think Hip-Hop was art or that it was worth documenting. Amazing because I cannot believe I took an idea like fusing Hip-Hop, chess and martial arts from getting laughed at to hosting tournaments with RZA winning em to breaking attendance records at the World Chess Hall of Fame to working with the Oakland Museum on this amazing event coming in 2018........ It is still a scary journey....I still dont know if I'm worthy......I have been sitting on a complete Iron Hook Scroll Vol. 2: The Cloud Scroll for about 3 years....I just need to take the photos and illustrate the positions.... I already have the outlines for 2 more books onHip-Hop, chess and martial arts..... and I've written a little on the next one already. But more than anything I just wanted to thank God, Marshon King, Eazy- E, and my wife for believing in me and giving me a shot at being something when I never thought I could be anything. To come from that emptiness to this fullness is at times very tearworthy. For more on Cornell Hip-Hop Collection visit http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/hiphop/

Get better at chess with this cool endgame video!!

Most of us will never be Grandmasters, but we can have fun and improve a little everyday with video's like these. GZA from Wu Yang Clan made a cool album called Grandmasters, please peep the video below to learn more about his love for chess.

Get Better at Chess with this Cool Chess Openings Video!!!

We will now be posting cool videos to help us all improve our understanding of the game. Hope you enjoy this one.

Nonviolent Rap Song of the Week #4 Wish You Could See Me by Haystak

Wish you could see me is from one of America's most underrated White rappers EVER. Haystak's first album Car Fulla White Boys was one of my top favorite solo album releases of all time. Great album, great production, raps, etc. But it seemed to me a lot of politics played into his lack of overall success. Nevertheless, this record is a classic and Wish You Could See Me is one of the best songs on this album.

One of the things many of us forget when we observe Hip-Hop in all of its core forms, it that ALL OF IT, it a guerrilla arts response to being boxed out of society.

Another thing that is hard to comprehend is that even if you take the most violent, offensive, shocking, rap song you can thing of- it is STILL nonviolent. Essentially, a person was mad and wrote a poem rather than kill. We can debate the impact of art on society and try to define when art imitates life or if its the other way around. What we cannot debate is that no matter how you feel about it and angry kid wrote a poem.

Rather than be mad that the kid wrote a poem that scared you, you should be trying to figure out what in his world could make him that mad.

The violence is always around them. The death is always around them. The impact of the violence and the death pushed them at an early age to think a lot about theology, philosophy and politics before they even know what the topics are.

This song is deep and has brought me to tears many times. It is one of the most touching tributes to a young mans' dead friends ever made.


We had high hopes just knowing he'd pull through
But he got this look on his face like he just knew
He might not be able to come back
I said squeeze my hand if you feel me- he didn't react
So that's one more homie that we lost to the late night
[Rain Starting]
Kill tha head light pull up at tha grave sight
We were there twenty minutes seemed like forever it lasted
His brother broke down his moms collapsed on tha casket
See tha caretaker throw the first shovel of dirt
I can't begin to describe how much that hurt
I can begin to describe I ain't going pretend
I can't begin to describe that

I encourage you to listen to the full song and read the annotated lyrics at Rap Genius.

WATCH: Wish You Could See Me 

To read more about nonviolence in Hip-Hop read Bobby, Bruce & the Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess in Amazon.com.

Nonviolent Rap Song of the Week #3 Self Destruction

                        Top rappers came together to try and stop the violence on the streets. 

Self Destruction was a record dropped in 1987 meant to help curb Black violence across the country. It was spearheaded by KRS ONE and included some of the biggest names in Hip-Hop at the time. Public Enemy, Heavy D, MC Lyte and many others were also on the song.

At the time they launched the Stop the Violence Movement. It was a valiant effort. But between the lack of big financial support and Hip-Hop being in its infancy not much came from it in terms of concrete impact. It did, however, serve as a blueprint that rappers use to this day to share their thoughts on violence. No other form of music in the history of the earth has as many songs about violence as rap.

It also showed that Hip-Hop artists were dedicated to more than partying. Inside Hip-Hop we knew that, but from the outside looking in, I understand how it may have been hard to see. Hip-Hop was one of the first victims of "fake news".

I think when people look at Hip-Hop we might look at LIVE AID or We Are The World as one off songs.

Self Destruction was not a one off. It was the epicenter for a wave of songs on peace, nonviolence, and records looking at the trauma of violence in the hood. I have to admit though that I never liked this beat. At all....Sometimes I think when people get ready to do songs for the community, they make half baked beats. I found it hard to believe that all these dope people could come together and have such a yawn worthy beat. But the spirit of the track was more important.

WATCH: Self Destruction now! 

Read the annotated lyrics to Self Destruction at Rap Genius. There is no parental advisory for this song.

To read more about nonviolence in Hip-Hop read Bobby, Bruce & the Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess  on Amazon or Smashwords.

An Open Letter to Bruce Lee from Hip-Hop Chess Federation

Dear Bruce Lee,

        On the 44th anniversary of your death, I find myself very short on words. I was only 3 when you passed away. It would be 6 more years for me to learn who you were. But my life after that was forever changed. I still remember it very vividly. 

        In the Summer of 1979 (yes I know, I'm quite old) my father came home with some of the newest technology in his hand. It was a VHS tape recorder. For the first time, American's could watch movies in their house as often as they'd like. The first two films my dad brought were Alien and Return of the Dragon. I did not know who Bruce Lee was at the time. I had seen a few Shaw Brothers films before, but I didn't really care about them much at the time. 

        I walked into my parent's bedroom and I saw you destroying people in the alley behind the restaurant in Italy. I asked my dad "What is this?!" and my dad explained to me who you were. It was the middle of the movie so I left and ate so it could finish. Then, I went back in and watched it from the beginning. It is hard to say exactly what I felt. It is hard to explain all the questions I had in my head. How can a man move like that? How can a man fight like that? How can a man be so skinny, but so strong? How can a man be so good at beating people up but be so nice? None of those things had answers that satisfied my mind. 

         There was not much I could do about it either. The only thing I could do was to try and make some nunchucks. I immediately went downstairs and took a hacksaw to an old yellow broomstick and put my 9-year-old elite craftsman skills to work. A year or so before, I went to visit my older cousin Steve. He was a cool older dude who looked like one of the Jackson 5. While sitting in his living room, I saw an old metal chain (very small) sitting on his coffee table. I asked him for no reason if I could have it. He said yes. I had no idea what it would be used for. Once I saw you, Bruce, I knew it was meant to be the links between my sticks. I still thank my cousin Steve till this day for giving me that chain. Till this day, he does not even remember giving it to me. I hit myself 100 times the first day I made them. But I did not care. I kept going. I'm nowhere as good as you, but I still have enough to beat up some guys in an alley if I need to with nunchucks. 

           A few years later, I had a friend at Pacific Heights Jr. High named Jamal. He wanted to be a stuntman when he grew up. He was the first kid I remember that I knew, who loved you as much as I did. We used to jump and fall down hills and climb walls trying to be like you. In the 1980's there were spots in almost every major city called Kung Fu Shops. I don't know what they were really called. They sold ninja stars, nunchucks, knives, and all kinds of weapons. The one I knew of was around 25th and Mission in San Francisco. I went there more than a few times to get stars. I still have one somewhere at my parent house. I think it is nuts they sold that stuff to us. But I am glad they did.

          I loved your other movies as well, but none as much as Return of the Dragon. Nothing can ever recapture the wonder that exploded in my head and heart the first time I saw you. Years later when I got ready to be married, I came to study you again. I never realized the responsibility of a man to keep the house safe. At the same time, I did not want to own a gun. I was studying the stick fighting art of Escrima, but I was really bad at it. My friend taught me about Gracie Jiu-Jitsu and I learned as much as I could be based on as little as  I had access to. So many jiu-jitsu players are driven by your work ethic. So many people of all styles aspire to match the clarity in your movements. 

        For my birthday, I was given the Tao of Jeet Kune Do by a San Jose graff writer and my life was never, ever the same. I was already a rogue scholar of Eastern philosophy and history. But to see your ideas on paper. To see your sketches. To see your philosophies opened my head and my heart in ways that are still happening. Your work gave me moral courage. Your writings helped me be proud to be Black just as you were proud to be Chinese. Your willingness to train Black students and White students at a time when racial separation was so common pushed me to study other cultures more diligently. Every time I get ready to eat bad food I feel like I can hear you telling me to stay away from it, that it won't make me a better warrior. I read a lot about Chinese medicine and tea because of you till this day.  

       My book Bobby, Bruce & the Bronx: The Secrets of Hip-Hop Chess and my organization The Hip-Hop Chess Federation would not exist were it not for you. I recently spoke in Washington DC about you at the Kennedy Center. The entire community of Hip-Hop loves you. Thank you for making Hip-Hop better. So many rappers, DJ's, Bboys and Graff writers have worked to improve themselves because of your efforts. Your impact can be seen in the work of Public Enemy's S1W's to Wu-Tang Clan, Mixmaster Mike, Andre Nickatina and Dead Prez. So many Black people eat better because of you. So many Black people think better because of you. Thank you is such an insufficient phrase as a response to your contributions. I can only promise to champion the value of your work and to encourage others to embrace your ideas as much as I can. I started out so sad writing this. Right now though, I feel happy. I think I am happy because the ripple effect of your work is yet undone. I look forward to the joy and peace your work continues to inspire in my own life and others around the world. Much love always. Peace Bruce. 

Much Love,

Adisa Banjoko