Master Chess Class in Hyde Park

I’ve already sent out an e-mail about the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club chess class, so I hope you’ll forgive me if I flog it one more time. The ten-week class, to be taught by International Master Jan van de Mortel, starts next Sunday, January 14. It costs $150. The class will maintain a 12-to-1 or better teacher-to-student ratio.

A bit of backstory: The class is the brainchild of energetic chess mom (and former Ray parent) Mary Stonor Saunders, who got tired of always having to schlep northward for chess activities. Mary also felt—quite rightly, in our humble opinion—that a neighborhood with so illustrious a chess tradition as Hyde Park should have more going on than it does at the moment. She enlisted the help of the University of Chicago, in the person of Duel Richardson, U of C's neighborhood-relations chief, who, recognizing the value of chess, turned to HPNC executive director Peter Cassel, who ran with the idea and brought it to fruition. Thanks and kudos to all three, and here’s hoping it’s the beginning of more chess in Hyde Park. Details here.