New York Times: In Tucson, women taking up chess

In Tucson, Women and Girls Are Finding a Place at the Chessboard
Dylan Loeb McClain
New York Times 25 December 2009

Becca Kinsey, a 39-year-old stage manager in Tucson, has three children, a husband and very little free time. But nearly every Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to noon, she goes to the Coffee X Change at Grant Road and Campbell Avenue to meet a group of women and play chess.

"I never had an interest," Mrs. Kinsey said of the game. "It always gave me headaches."

That changed a few months ago, when she finally learned to play.

Now, she said, "people will say, 'Come do this,' and I'll say: 'I can't go to that. I am going to chess on Wednesdays.'"

Mrs. Kinsey's chess group has 16 members, all of them women and most of them beginners. They all share an enthusiasm for chess that borders on obsession.

The group is an outgrowth of a nonprofit organization in Tucson called 9 Queens, started in 2007 by Jean Hoffman, 29, and Jennifer Shahade, 28, a two-time United States women's chess champion. The group's name comes from the maximum number of queens that one player can have on the board. (While theoretically possible, it has never been known to happen.)

Ms. Hoffman, who lives in Tucson, said the goal of 9 Queens was to encourage more girls and women, as well as students from low-income families, to take up chess.

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