Feb. 2021
The Northside Chronicle
Page 21
Pittsburgh chess champ to open a learning center for youth in the Northside their programs online. Priore said they hope to go back to in-person soon. TQG follows Ashley Lynn Priore is the real-life Pittsburgh Public School (PPS) rules to enBeth Harmon of the city of Pittsburgh. sure the safety of their students and staff, Founder and president of the nonprofit and until PPS mandates in-person activi organization The Queens Gambit Chess ties, TQG will offer their programs online. Institute (TQG), Priore talked with The Priore hopes to open the chess center in the Northside Chronicle to discuss the new same building with The Pittsburgh Project youth chess center she plans to open in the in Northside once COVID-19 subsides. Northside. However, online chess attracted more “We wanted to become part of the students than Priore anticipated. She said Northside. We're all about bringing chess that students felt more confident playing to the community and want to be an orgachess online because they were able to connization that goes into the community and trol the online board. is grounded in the community,” said Priore. Priore grew up playing in chess tourna“We want to create a space where youth ments with her sister. Out of the 300-some can be themselves while playing, learning, people competing, Priore said that she and and teaching chess, [and] also connecting her sister were typically the only women with the community,” she continued. “We playing. She created TQG to counter the want students in the Northside to come to us fact that chess is a male-dominated sport. and make it their space to learn and grow.” “What worries me is that in the World TQG’s new chess center will start by Chess Hall of Fame, there are tons of males offering basic and beginner chess classes in there and not a lot of women,” Priore notand build off of what students like. Accorded. “However, women who are not in there ing to Priore, they hope that over time, they have accomplished way more than the men can either add advanced classes or start a that are in the Hall of Fame.” chess team. Priore and TQG recently created an “We're trying to follow a model like advisory board to help discover new ways St. Louis has,” Priore explained. “The St. to both improve their methods of teaching Photo courtesy of Ashley Lynn Priore chess to students and identify the educaLouis Chess Club has a great model: They have a Scholastic chess center and it’s all Priore chats with a class at The Ellis School about all-girls education and how chess tional benefits the sport provides. The adabout young empowerment through chess, remains a male-dominated sport. visory board consists of Northside residents who work with nonprofit organizations. TQG is staffed by youth who learn how TQG was founded by Priore in 2014. to play and teach chess. TQG believes that Since then, it has worked in nine districts in students teaching each other helps to build Pittsburgh as well as some outside counties. youth empowerment. In their 2020 Annual Report, TQG states Due to COVID-19, TQG has moved that they offer over 100 programs, reaching over a thousand students in Allegheny County, and 75 partnerships in seven counties. “We want to show [people] that chess can be used in their day-to-day lives,” Priore said. “We want people to know that if you have a student struggling with an academic subject or self-confidence, or who wants to learn more skills, we are here to support them.” Students and youth who are interested in joining TQG should visit its website at https://www.tqgchess.institute/. They can also call 412-354-0996 or email info@ Photos courtesy of Ashley Lynn Priore tqgchess.institute. Openings are also still Children coached by Priore play at annual chess competitions held at various locations including the main branch of the Carnegie available for Northsiders interested in joining the advisory board. n Library of Pittsburgh. By Jason Phox
so that is what we're trying to implement in Pittsburgh.” The St. Louis Chess Club is a widely recognized premier chess facility in the
United States, and considered one of the best in the world. Their goal is to spread the educational benefits of chess to students through afterschool programs.
