About this item
In April of 2015, a team of "border kids" from South-Central El Paso surprised the country by competing in the national chess championships. For these kids, dreams of beating highly privileged students from "fancy" schools in upper-crust neighborhoods aren't on the radar. They have bigger issues to deal with in life. And yet, they choose to voluntarily--even enthusiastically--commit countless hours every week to the practice of a game that they had known virtually nothing about until art teacher Saul Ramirez started a chess club at Henderson Middle School. Under Ramirez's caring but firm tutelage, the rising stars of El Paso hunker down, deal with the challenges of life and trust Ramirez to mentor them in their new extracurricular passion--chess.
About the Author
Saul Ramirez is the chess coach and art teacher at Henderson Middle School in El Paso, Texas, where he coached his students to win the national chess championships in 2015 and 2016. Ramirez grew up in El Paso's Segundo Barrio, one of the poorest zip codes in the United States, and discovered chess as a child, which became a pathway out of misfortune. Ramirez, like his current students, competed and became a champion in various state and national tournaments. Ramirez graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in May 2010 and started teaching at Henderson Middle School in August of that same year, where he continues to create new paths for the dreams of his students. He lives in El Paso with his wife, Edna, and two children, Saul Jr. and Frida.
