This weekend, by a rather strange turn of events, myself and Stranger Danger found ourselves at the Elementary Chess National Championship at the Hyatt in downtown Atlanta.  Now, while the pseudonym “Stranger Danger” may arise suspicions as to why we were at such an event, I will assure you that Stranger Danger is a huge chess fanatic and that I find the game fascinating as well.  Even more fascinating was seeing an enormous ballroom full of elementary-aged kids so intense, so focused, and so concentrated on such an intelligent game.

After checking out the competition, we headed down to the team rooms and met David MacEnulty, a world-renowned chess coach with whom Stranger Danger had previously become acquainted.  2005’s A&E movie Knights of South Bronx was based on this man’s experience at Bronx Community Elementary School 70 where he led a team of schoolchildren to win the New York City State Chess Championships.  His character was played by Ted Danson, and the film also starred Malcolm David Kelley from the TV series Lost.

I didn’t really understand this man’s influence until I started looking him up afterwards.  This also makes the second famous person I’ve met in the past month or so - in my brief exposure to the 2010 Atlanta Film Festival, I was able to catch Scott Mosier give an intimate chat about the trials and tribulations of film producing.