The Kings of New York: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses who Make Up America's Top High School Chess TeamAn award-winning sportswriter takes you inside a year with the nation's top high school chess team. With strict admission standards and a progressive curriculum, Brooklyn's Edward R. Murrow High School has long been one of New York's public-education success stories, serving a diverse neighborhood of immigrants and minorities and ranking among the nation's best high schools. At Murrow, there are no sports teams, and the closest thing to jocks are found on the school's powerhouse chess team, which annually competes for the national championship. In "The Kings of New York" sportswriter Michael Weinreb follows the members of the Murrow chess team through an entire season, from cash games in Washington Square Park to city and state tournaments to the SuperNationals in Nashville, where this eclectic bunch competes against private schoolers and suburbanites. Along the way, Weinreb brings to life a number of colorful characters: the Yale-educated calculus teacher (and former semipro hockey player) who guides the savants while struggling to find funding for his team; an aspiring rapper and tournament hustler who plays with cutthroat instinct; the team's lone girl, a shy Ukrainian immigrant; the Puerto Rican teen from the rough neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant who plays an ingenious opening gambit named the Orangutan; and the Lithuanian immigrant and team star whose chess rating is climbing toward grandmaster status. In the bestselling tradition of such books as "Word Freak" and "Friday Night Lights, The Kings of New York" is a riveting look inside the world of competitive chess and an inspiring profile of young genius. |
From inside the book
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Contents
PROLOGUE | 1 |
OPENING | 9 |
DO THE MATH | 11 |
BRUCKNERS GAMBIT | 21 |
FREEDOM OF CHOICE | 29 |
AN ACADEMIC CHALLENGE | 43 |
A GAME UNLIKE ANY OTHER | 57 |
THE ORANGUTAN | 75 |
TIRESOME DAYS AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS | 159 |
THE 2005 NEW YORK STATE SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP | 169 |
ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO CHANGE YOUR DESTINY | 195 |
ENDGAME | 211 |
SUPERNATIONALS III | 213 |
SUMMERTIME | 251 |
EPILOGUE | 271 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 279 |
CHESS AND THE CITY | 89 |
ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN | 101 |
MIDDLE GAME | 117 |
THE THIRTYNINTH ANNUAL GREATER NEW YORK SCHOLASTIC TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP | 119 |
THE WOMEN IN THE ROOM | 137 |
GLOSSARY | 283 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 287 |
WEB SITES | |
Other editions - View all
The Kings of New York: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses who ... Michael Weinreb No preview available - 2007 |
Game of Kings: A Year Among the Oddballs and Geniuses Who Make Up America's ... Michael Weinreb No preview available - 2007 |
The Kings of New York: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses who ... Michael Weinreb No preview available - 2008 |