Chess on the Screen

The American cable channel A&E is releasing a television movie Fall 2004, on inner-city kids who play chess and revitalize their school lives. No doubt more than loosely based on the many success stories from dedicated coaches like GM Maurice Ashley in Harlem. Speaking of, Disney has optioned "I Choose to Stay," the 2003 book by Salome Thomas-EL who used chess as a tool to inspire inner-city schoolkids in Philadelphia. There have been many such films in recent years, not all of them with soundtracks by Coolio, but chess is new ingredient to the usual "tough kids with hearts (and minds) of gold" Hollywood line. (Stand and Deliver comes to mind.)