All-girls’ chess match held in Santa Rosa

All-girls’ chess match held in Santa Rosa

All-girls’ chess match held in Santa Rosa 445 334 Chess Club For Kids

Cassandra Wright, 6, expresses the many emotions of a tense chess game at Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa during a tournament put on by Chess for Kids Inc., of Santa Rosa.

KENT PORTER/The Press Democrat

By
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 5:40 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 5:40 p.m.
Cassandra Wright, 6, pulled at her hair, clasped her hands, gripped her head, broke into countless expressions of pain and frustration and, finally, cried.

She did not expect her opponent to be so determined. “She did everything she could to make me lose,” said Cassandra, shortly after her second game during an all-girls’ chess tournament Saturday in Santa Rosa.

Competition can be brutal and some people do not win or play gracefully, harsh but important lessons for a 1st grader, though nothing a parent’s arms couldn’t soothe.

The chess tournament held at Ursuline High School was sponsored by Chess for Kids, a non-profit that organizes after-school chess programs in Sonoma County.