CategoriesRegency Chess Co. News

Brooklyn Castle Four Years On – What Are The Students Doing Now?

 

At first glance, the 2012 documentary Brooklyn Castle is ostensibly a film about chess, and the child stars who come to master it. Intermediate School 318 is a junior high school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with an exemplary chess course, now known throughout the U.S for having secured, at the time of release, no less than 26 national chess titles. That’s an impressive feat for a school classified as a “Title 1 School”, meaning, in the words of former principal Fortunato Rubino, that they “have a poverty level of above sixty percent. Ours is closer to seventy, seventy-five.” Against the odds of their surroundings, chess is a way for these kids to not only understand accomplishment, but to understand aspiration, and that’s something this film absolutely understands.

Playing Chess at I.S.318.
                 Playing Chess at I.S.318.

In this sense, Brooklyn Castle is not a film about chess. It’s about something much larger and more important than that: education. Education, as the film constantly reminds us, has countless permutations, each one judged on the basis of its effectivity in relation to every individual child. In Brooklyn Castle, that permutation is chess, deploying the game as an educational tool in an extraordinary way. Whilst these underprivileged children are able to compete in national chess tournaments across the country (hosted annually by the United States Chess Federation) and win in big and exciting ways, what’s truly special is how the game is used as a springboard to accomplish what may otherwise have been out of reach. Chess has been woven into the lives of these students (and their teachers’), and through it they experience friendship and family, failure and success, and, when it’s all said and done, hope.

Elizabeth Vicary
                    Elizabeth Vicary

Directed by Katie Dellamaggiore, who funded a lot of it herself, the film is an absolute success. When these kids sit down to play chess, the first moves are made with electricity, and pieces vanish from the board with incredible assurance. “The geeks,” as Rubino says, “they are the athletes.” As it should be, given the school is home to some of the best young chess players in the United States. The school’s chess story started in the 90’s when it was decided that its small group of chess devotees should compete in the nationals. In a surprise turn of events, they won. The school is now widely recognised as having the best chess program for a middle-school in the entire country, masterminded by assistant principal John Galvin and chess wizard Elizabeth Vicary.

 

Life in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Their success has not been without its bumps, though, and the point of drama around which the film pivots are the budget cuts that were enforced as a result of the financial crisis towards the end of the last decade. I.S.318 saw 1.3 million dollars taken out of its budget, with the immediate knock-on effect of limiting after-school activities which, as the film indicates, includes more than just chess, but many more essential after-school programs that keep kids going. And the reality is that these cuts keep on coming, too; Brooklyn Castle’s story isn’t bookended with a neat beginning and end. It’s a story that’s still going today.

When the film takes us into the private lives of its young protagonists, we realise how stark that reality can be. They’re all from low income families desperately trying to stay ahead, working day in, day out to keep the lights on and hopefully keep a little extra for their child’s college fund. They don’t have the money to attend state-wide chess tournaments, so the opportunities to travel and experience new places the school offers is a gift none of them take lightly. What makes the film so endearing is that none of this stops the kids from having big, big dreams. Their accomplishment in chess is only the beginning; it gives them the aspiration to achieve more, and it’s this idea that the film always doubles down on. Vicary, their chess teacher, emphasises the nebulous nature of chess as a subject. There’s no clear right or wrong in the game. And so when she says, “[It’s] very hard to know what that best move is”, you can’t help but extrapolate that statement to life itself, and ultimately to what these kids really need.

Where are they now?

Although the film follows five students, we thought we’d check in on three of them and see where they’re at now, four-five years after filming.

 

Rochelle Ballantyne

Rochelle Ballantyne
                    Rochelle Ballantyne

The timid, eager, and unassuming Rochelle Ballantyne was only 13-years-old at the time of filming, but distinguished herself as the best chess player in the school. Now, she holds a scholarship to Stanford University, and is on track to becoming the country’s first African-American chess “master”. It’s a goal that is nurtured throughout the film, as she weighs up the demands of fulfilling her dream and the ordinary, but no less important, demands of high school. Rochelle manages to find the line and walk it.

 

 

 

Alexis Paredes

Alexis (2)
Alexis Paredes

The smart and talented Alexis Paredes dreams of becoming a lawyer or a doctor, of making it big so he can live a good life and provide some financial relief to his South American parents. The trials and tribulations of parenthood are a running theme throughout the film, and it always draws attention to the quiet heroism of mom and dad. Unlike in Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), chess doesn’t alienate parent and child – it brings them together. Paredes is now a chess instructor and studying political science and government at the University of Albany.

 

 

 

 

 Oghenakpobo ‘Pobo’ Efekoro

Oghenakpobo ‘Pobo’ Efekoro
           Oghenakpobo ‘Pobo’ Efekoro

And there’s Oghenakpobo ‘Pobo’ Efekoro, keeping the team together with open, honest intelligence and an easy going charm and grace. Born to Nigerian parents, Pobo had never left New York state until he was afforded the opportunity to do so by I.S.318’s chess program. Pobo’s charm is infectious, to both the audience and students alike, and his success has far exceeded his evident skill at chess. After becoming student president during the course of the film (with the campaign slogan “Pobobama”), Pobo has gone on to study Foreign Affairs and Sociology at the University of Virginia, and is a star player on their track and field team.

 

 

Their aspirations know no limit, and their enormous success at chess gives them the hope they need to aspire to them. Their accomplishment feeds their aspiration, teaching them that it is entirely possible to fulfil their dreams. It’s not difficult to stress how important the chess program has clearly been for the students at I.S.318, both those in the film and those we don’t get to meet, but who are surely reaping the benefits of such a meticulously planned, and carefully supervised, activity such this chess program. It teaches patience, goal-oriented thinking, how to plan, logic – all of which are essential attributes that can be taught in a variety of ways. It just so happens it was chess.

 

CategoriesRegency Chess Co. News

Chess in Film

Chess in Film

Chess has always possessed a cinematic quality, making the game a popular recurring feature, prop or motif in the history of film. It has been used by film-makers for decades to denote logic and intelligence, craftsmanship and art, and power and class. This is, of course, to say nothing of the films devoted to chess in and of itself – for instance, the superb Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), and the award-winning Brooklyn Castle (2012).

But when we think of chess and film, there’s a tendency to gravitate towards those works that utilise the game in specific ways. This can either be in a singular, resonate moment where chess is meant to exemplify a conflict (see Bryan Singer’s X-Men, 2000) or as a thematic through line, demonstrated in some of the films we will be exploring in this post.

The Seventh Seal – 1956

The first film, Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1956), features one of the most iconic images in cinema: Max von Sydow’s fearful, disillusioned knight facing the striking figure of Beng Ekerot’s Death incarnate over a game of chess with a very unusual chess set.

Block challenges Death to a game of chess.
Block challenges Death to a game of chess.

Instead of yielding to Death on the shores of his homeland, medieval knight Antonius Block challenges Death to a game. If he should win, he proposes, he can go free, and if he should lose, then he will willingly accept his fate. Amused by this proposition, Death agrees. But it is not Death that Block fears. It is the fear of having lived a meaningless existence, with nothing but a series of violent crusades behind him and a plague-ridden land ahead. Their game of chess, from its physical manifestation as a board and pieces to its symbolic significance, subsequently becomes the literal object between life and death. It is a temporary measure enacted by Block in an errant attempt to secure for himself the faith that he has lost. Every move matters, either moving him further, or closer to, a fate he gradually comes to accept as inevitable.

Whilst we witness the pair playing the game three times over the course of the film, it pays little to no attention to the chronology of the game itself, as has been noted by Stuart Reuben. However, intentional or not, the arbitrariness of the board’s pieces plays perfectly into the film’s hands. Block’s pursuit of meaning, be it incarnated in God, the Devil, or the heavens, is heavily suggestive of his desire to at least be a pawn, not a knight, in a grander scheme. His quest homeward takes him through the hierarchy of medieval society. His only companion at the beginning of the film is his squire, but he eventually acquires a family of struggling performers, a blacksmith and his wife, and a poor peasant girl. They are all inexorably swept up in his journey, their fates, save for the performers, tied to his. The lack of continuity on the chess board is thematically convenient for the film’s suggestion that in the tailspin of existence, there is no end but death.

No matter the move he makes, the game is always skewed to favour Death. Block manages to spare the life of the family by allowing them to escape whilst Death has his back turned. This qualifies as his meaningful act – one chosen willingly as opposed to divinely ordained – but still prays for himself and his doomed companions when Death finally closes in and the game comes to an end.

The Dance of Death.
The Dance of Death.

Blade Runner – 1982

Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) is another film that explores the question of a meaningful existence, albeit one set in a dystopian future as opposed to the unforgiving dark ages. Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard is hired to hunt down and ‘retire’ a group of artificial beings called ‘replicants’. They have returned to Earth in order to find the man responsible for their creation, Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkell), and prolong their limited four-year life-span. In order to reach him they acquire the services of one of Tyrell’s geneticists, J.F Sebastian (William Sanderson).

 

Batty examines Sebastian's chess game.
Batty examines Sebastian’s chess game.

Sebastian is locked in a chess game with his superior, remarking that he’s only ever been able to beat Tyrell once. It is Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), one of Tyrell’s own replicants, who succeeds in securing victory. Blade Runner, like The Seventh Seal, is a film that has been the subject of vast amounts of film criticism and interrogation. This likewise goes for its use of chess, which has been compared to the famous ‘Immortal Game’ between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky in 1851 (Scott has apparently denied this).

Whatever the case for that comparison may be, Blade Runner’s chess game is arguably about power, and the exertion of that power over life and death. Tyrell holds both Batty and Sebastian’s future in his hands, to the extent that in Batty’s case, it is a matter of his mortality. He has succeeded in creating a being who can overcome him in intelligence, but Batty’s maker, his ‘God’, so to speak, is unable and unwilling to extend the replicants’ existence. The replicants are desperate in their pursuit to be something more than just pawns to human hands. And when science can no longer satisfy that need, they must rely on what little time they have left – on their experiences – to do so. In the end, Batty is hunted down by Deckard, but quickly turns the tables, and the hunter becomes the hunted. “Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it?” Batty remarks, holding Deckard’s life in his hands as he dangles from a rooftop.

 

Tyrell is taken by surprise at Sebastian's sudden move.
Tyrell is taken by surprise at Sebastian’s sudden move.

The book on which the film is based, Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), places a far greater emphasis on animals and the status they denote to their owners. To possess a real animal is to acquire a higher status than one with an artificial animal. Acquiring a living, breathing animal with blood running through its veins is the prime motivator for Deckard, so he may replace his robotic sheep. This theme is generally absent from Scott’s film. It is only mentioned when Deckard visits Tyrell’s office and encounters a synthetic owl. On asking if it is artificial, he is countered with, “Of course it is.”

It is interesting to note, then, that the grand and baroque chess sets used by Tyrell and Sebastian are markedly different – one with human pieces, the other with animal pieces. Whilst Tyrell’s pieces are definitively human in form, Sebastian’s are ornate birds. In keeping with Blade Runner’s flirtation with noir and history, they are both anachronistic sets, but defer separate meanings on their owners. Tyrell is transfixed on the human form and likely spends more time in the company of human beings than he does replicants, but much of Sebastian’s old-world apartment is artificial and, ultimately, lonely. He does not have the luxury of owning an artificial owl as Tyrell does (let alone a real one, should they even still exist) and instead must marvel at their image on his chess board.

This post only examines in brief the potentialities of theme chess represents in these films, and only covers two to boot. There are many examples, perhaps not all of which are equally as interesting, but will very likely always serve as functional, thematic features appropriated for the cinematic medium.

CategoriesRegency Chess Co. News

What makes a design classic?

Throughout history humans have been creating things. In the beginning we did this to survive,  in more recent times we’ve seen the rate of creativity and design increase exponentially with thousands of items being made for a myriad of purposes. Very occasionally someone creates something that we refer to as a ‘classic’ but it doesn’t happen very often. The design process is usually one of evolution where the first version is primitive and subsequent improvements make the item better and more refined. What I’m referring to are those rare cases where someone creates something new, original and special, and gets it perfect first time round.

What invariably happens is that these design classics become the archetype of the genre they represent. They become the ‘Hoover’ of the vacuum cleaners, the one that people instantly recognise,  the archetypal version that ends up defining the whole genre of products they come from.

Here are a few examples of when the designers of products got it right first time and created an iconic design classic & a piece of human history.

Fender Stratocaster

1. The Fender Stratocaster Guitar

In 1954 Leo Fender released the Stratocaster guitar onto the open market in America. The modern design shocked many at the time and it initially received large amounts of criticism from the music industry. The proportions, curves and lines were all completely pleasing to the human eye, it looked like a thing of beauty. When people played it they realised it wasn’t a passing fad, but a serious instrument that seriously rocked! It was versatile, robust, stayed in tune, didn’t feedback, light weight, and was equally at home being used in Country & Western as it was Heavy Metal, although it did take some years for Heavy Metal to be born, when it was the Stratocaster (Strat for short) was there in the hands of the pioneers of this classic music.

The Fender company grew massively on the back of the sales of the Stratocaster and in 1965 the company was sold to the corporate giant CBS. They set about making ‘improvements’ to the guitar very gradually and over the ensuing years it morphed into quite a different being. By the late 70s it was totally different in feel and sound from those early 50s and 60s examples thanks to a forced evolutionary process of ‘improvement’. Fender were struggling to see why famous guitar players of the era like Mark Knophler of Dire Straights, were happy to play a Strat on television, but only old ones.

By the early 80s the Strat was becoming less and less fashionable and sales were dwindling. Then something remarkable happened. Over in Japan a factory started making copies of Fender guitars, the inevitable law suits followed but one thing stood out. The Japanese weren’t making copies of modern Fenders Stratocasters, they were creating very faithful reproductions of the versions from the 1950s and 1960s. The players loved them and before Fender could get their lawyers deployed thousands of Japanese copies were heading onto American and European shores.

It actually worked out well for Fender in the end. They began their own manufacture operation in Japan and were forced to wise up to the fact that what players wanted was the original design with 1954 specifications. Today Fender sell thousands of Stratocasters every year and offer faithful reproductions of the early versions. The guitar remains an icon and part of music history, definitely a design classic!

Fun facts about the Fender Stratocaster

  • Early Stratocasters were painted with automotive paint from the Du Pont Company
  • In the late 60s the guitar was set to be discontinued until it was made popular again by Jimi Hendrix
  • The superiority of the early guitars created demand for ‘vintage instruments’ & by the mid 80s ‘Vintage Guitars’ became it’s own industry
  • Early Strats from the 50s can fetch £10,000s if in original condition.
  • During their unpopular phase Eric Clapton bought ten of them and gave them to friends.

 

A Staunton Chess Set
A Staunton Chess Set

2. The Staunton Chess Set

This one goes back to 1849 when a champion chess player, Howard Staunton, had become fed up with playing international matches using obscure designs of foreign chess set. He was convinced that using an obscure ornate set was affecting the outcome of the games, often because the players were having to think about which piece was which. He wanted an international standard, a set that everyone could instantly recognise and a set where you could never get the pieces confused with one another. But he also wanted all the pieces to look like they came from the same family, a common ‘look & feel’.

A London based games manufacturer in conjunction with a man called Nathanial Cook created what was to become the perfect chess set. It took it’s design cues from London Architecture of the time and ticked every box that Staunton wanted. Upon seeing the set he immediately endorsed it. It took off and became an instant hit among chess players. What was also remarkable was how the design was such that it could easily be mass produced, something it shares with the Fender Stratocaster.

When most of you think of a chess set the image your brain goes to first will inevitably be the Staunton set. The horse for the knight, the castle for the rook, the bishops mitre, the crowned queen and the king with a cross on his head. Prior to 1849 this design didn’t exist which seems hard to imagine. What was remarkable about the design was how it was beautifully proportioned, each piece was instantly recognizable but they clearly all came from the same set. There was no way you could mistake a pawn for a bishop, or a rook.

Nathaniel Cooks Original Design
Nathaniel Cooks Original Design

Since it’s creation the set has been copied thousands of times, numerous new versions created, some of which really take the design to a new and interesting place. But the blueprint always remains the same and somehow changes to the original design never look quite right. Today the Staunton set is still by far the most popular design, it’s no longer made by the company in London but versions of it remain in use and have become the standard for chess associations and tournaments across the world. The original sets from the 1800s attract high antique values and remain very collectable.

Fun facts about the Staunton Chess Set

  • There is no company called ‘Staunton’ that makes chess sets
  • The original manufacturers of the set are still in business, but they longer make the sets themselves
  • The knights were carved by hand in the 1800s and still are today! all other pieces can be turned on a lathe

 

The Coca Cola Bottle
The Coca Cola Bottle

3. The Coca Cola bottle

Back in 1915 the Coca Cola Company wanted to re bottle their product and make it distinctive, copycat brands were being set up and they wanted their product to stand out and be unique. They commissioned The Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana to design a new bottle and they created what’s now referred to as ‘The Contour Bottle”. The original brief for the bottle was “a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.”

A Root employee by the name of Earl R. Dean was inspired by the shape of cocoa pod and created a prototype that initially won approval but was too wide in the mid section for easy production and distribution. The bloated mid section was slimmed down and the design that we all know and love today was born. Dean was offered a $500 bonus for his work but turned it down in favor of the offer of a lifetime job at the company.

By 1920 the Coca Cola company had adopted the new bottle design as it’s main vessel for their dark, sweet drink.

Deans Original Design
Deans Original Design

Fun Facts about the Coca Cola bottle

  • The patent for the bottle was filed on December 25th, it was nicknamed “The Christmas Bottle”
  • In 1944 the Coke bottle was the subject of a landmark legal case after one exploded
  • The bottle designers wanted to base the initial design on a coca leaf or a kola nut, but couldn’t find pictures of either

Today the Coca Cola bottle is one of the most universally recognized items on earth.

 

 

 

 

Design ClassicsOne striking thing all three of these items have in common is their shape. To a certain extent they all feature the lines and curves of the human form. Could it be that one of the reasons we are naturally drawn to these iconic products is their similarity to our own natural image?

 

CategoriesRegency Chess Co. News

Job Vacancy – We’re recruiting again

Job Title: Ecommerce Manager – Retail

Location: Frome, Somerset

Salary: £20,000 plus bonus

Position: Permanent/Full Time

Sector: IT & Internet

 

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an ambitious Online/Ecommerce Manager to join a leading chess and backgammon retailer in Frome, Somerset. The successful Online/Ecommerce Manager will work full time, earning a salary of £20,000 plus an annual bonus (up to £2,000), and will ideally have previous experience in ecommerce retailing.

 

As Online/Ecommerce Manager you will be responsible for managing inbound sales and advice calls, stock control, ordering and maintaining stock levels, social media engagement, sales order processing and keeping online sales channels up to date. Reporting to the company’s management team, the successful Online/Ecommerce Manager will also be responsible for:

 

  • Continuing the company’s success in customer satisfaction
  • Manning the sales and customer service phone line
  • Maintaining online sales platforms
  • Writing and updating website content
  • Maintaining stock control systems
  • Dealing with suppliers and ordering stock

 

The successful Online/Ecommerce Manager should have demonstrable experience in a similar retail/ecommerce environment, while a genuine interest in chess and/or backgammon would also be an advantageous, but not essential. You should be enthusiastic, organised, and able to work under your own steam to take an active role in growing sales and developing business. The successful Online/Ecommerce Manager will also possess the following skills and experience:

 

  • High level of IT literacy
  • Retail or customer service experience
  • Good knowledge of the internet and its uses
  • MS Word/Excel proficient
  • Excellent spelling and grammar – in order to write web content to a high standard
  • Experience with stock control systems (desirable)
  • Experience with social media platforms (desirable)
  • Knowledge of e-commerce retailing and online marketing (desirable)
  • Web design and photography skills (desirable)

 

If you have a proven history in retail, ecommerce, website management and/or customer service and are interested in this exciting Online/Ecommerce Manager position, based in Frome, Somerset, please apply by submitting your CV along with a cover letter that explains why you believe you are suitable for the Online/Ecommerce Manager position. Please email CV to [email protected]

We will not infringe your individual rights to privacy & prosperity by asking you for any kind of criminal records check. However past employer references may be requested.

 

CategoriesRegency Chess Co. News

Christmas 2014 Opening Times – Information

A very Merry Christmas to all our customers. It’s been another bumper year for Regency Chess. Below are our opening times for the Christmas and New Year Period. Please note that our offices and sales departments will remain closed for most days while our warehouse and order dispatch will be working.

Dec 24     – Closed
Dec 25th – Closed
Dec 26th – Office Closed – Warehouse Open
Dec 27th – Closed
Dec 28th – Closed
Dec 29th – Office Closed – Warehouse Open
Dec 30th – Office Closed – Warehouse Open
Dec 31st  – Office Closed – Warehouse Open
Jan 1st     – Closed
Jan 2nd   – Closed
Jan 3rd    – Closed
Jan 4th    – Closed
Jan 5th    – Open as usual
Jan 6th    – Open as usual