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The Rio Grande Valley is known for many things — both positive and negative, both earned and undeserved. It’s known for its poverty, heavy immigration traffic and official corruption that plagues many public boards and commissions.
One of the Valley’s most noteworthy claims to fame is its establishment as a mecca for what has been called the world’s most cerebral sport — chess.
The story began with a single Brownsville elementary school teacher who decided to teach students the game just to pass the time, and within just a couple of years had built a team that captured the state title.
Interestingly, the team’s story inspired other local schools to follow suit, and in an age when so many children are glued to electronic games and internet media, students all across the Valley bought in to the centuries-old strategic board game.
It was a compelling story that gained national attention and inspired a major motion picture.
Moreover, some 30 years after that first chess club was formed, Valley continues to dominate in the world of chess.
Dominance is hardly an exaggeration; in the National High School Chess Championship tournament held last month in Memphis, Tenn., the Valley, which has a total population roughly equal to the city of Dallas, sent nearly a dozen teams, and in one category of competition placed four teams in the top 10 — McAllen Lamar Academy, McAllen Achieve Early College High School, San Benito High School and Harlingen School for Health Professionals.
In addition to those schools, the Sharyland, Brownsville, Edinburg and South Texas school districts were represented, as was the IDEA Academy in North Mission.
That’s certainly something to brag about.
Equally deserving of praise is the leadership of the University of Texas at Brownsville and now UTRGV, which also took up the chess mantle. Inspired by the young local chess masters and cognizant that chess could help lower-income Valley students earn their way to a college education, the university embraced the game and built one of the top collegiate chess teams in the nation — and the world. UTRGV has gained so much fame that many students from Russia, where chess has been called the national sport and even a national obsession, have come to South Texas to further their education and build their chess prowess.
Simply building a chess powerhouse wasn’t enough for the local university, which recently held the first women-only collegiate chess tournament.
The tournament might have been a reaction to the unexpected popularity of The Queen’s Gambit, a 2020 Netflix miniseries about the sensation created by a young woman who was successful in the male-dominated sport. But the tourney itself can help inspire young women to take up the game and even pursue it as a competitive sport.
All those who have embraced, as the Broadway musical called it, the ultimate test of cerebral fitness deserve applause for making it an attractive activity. Most importantly, all the people in the Valley who have embraced it and keep it alive with their own children warrant special praise for building a unique source of pride for the entire region.
