Alexey Root

Currently, Root serves as a Senior Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. She has authored seven insightful books exploring the connection between chess and education.

Additionally, Root is the Research Awards Coordinator at Chessable and contributes articles to .

Al Capone, Norman Tweed Whitaker, Chess, and Taxes

Part of Al Capone’s sentence was served on Alcatraz Island, where chess master Norman Tweed Whitaker was a fellow inmate. Willie Harris, a journalist living in Denton, Texas, investigated this chess and crime connection. More 🡢

U.S. Senior Women’s Championship

The first ever U.S. Senior Women’s Championship, an invitational for women 50 and older, was held November 3–5, 2023, at the Berkeley Chess School. The Eade Foundation was its sponsor, with help from US Chess. More 🡢

Grandmasters compete at Coppell Chess Club

Grandmaster Jeffery Xiong is ranked 43rd in the world by the International Chess Federation (FIDE). On May 20, 2023, Xiong played two rounds in the Coppell Chess Club First Year Anniversary Grand Celebration. More 🡢

Free Chess Content, Spring 2023

The London Chess Conference was March 17-19. Videos of its sessions are available for free on YouTube. On April 10, the Mechanics’ Institute will hold a free Zoom session about the 2023 World Chess Championship match between Ding Liren from China and Ian Nepomniachtchi from Russia. More 🡢

Interviewing Chess Grandmasters Hans Niemann and Vasyl Ivanchuk

At the FIDE World Team Championship 2022, in 43 one- or two-minute-long videos, I interviewed players, captains, organizers, and FIDE officials. Two of the most famous players I interviewed were Grandmasters Hans Moke Niemann and Vasyl Ivanchuk. The winning team was China, followed by Uzbekistan, Spain, and India. More 🡢

Memoir by Former UT Dallas Chess Coach Rade Milovanovic

TheBookPatch, a print-on-demand self-publisher, published Rade Milovanovic’s International Chess Master My Family and Chess Story with Selected Games and Pictures. The book is 246 pages. Milovanovic completed it in September of 2021. It retails for $38.00 for a print book. It is also available as an e-book ($10.00). More 🡢

Problem Chess The Art and Magic on the Chessboard

Problem Chess: Art and Magic on the Chess Board

Gambit Publications published Problem Chess: Art and Magic on the Chess Board by Göran Forslund. Forslund died in September 2015, just before the publication of this print edition. Previously, this Gambit title was available only in an electronic format. More 🡢

Alexey Root receives trophy from Director Tom Crane

Chess Research: Monetary Awards for University Students

The Chessable Research Awards promote chess research by undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty research sponsors. Chessable plans three cycles per year of monetary awards. Applications for the first cycle are open until October 1, 2022. Chessable is also known for spaced repetition, which is a helpful technique for memorizing chess openings. More 🡢