If you love the game of chess, and you also love Hip Hop, the San Francisco Design Center (101 Henry Adams St) is where you need to be tomorrow (Saturday, October 13th) beginning at 10 a.m. so that you can witness the 1st Annual Chess Kings Invitational.
The event has been organized by The Hip-Hop Chess Federation (HHCF) and will feature familiar Hip Hop faces including RZA, GZA, Paris, Casual, DJ Q-Bert, Saafir, Balance, Big Rich, and T-K.A.S.H. strategically moving their 16 pieces around 64 squares as they compete alongside chess pros the likes of eight-time National Chess Champion Josh Waitzkin for the HHCF championship belt.
HHCF, which is a nonprofit organization, will also be holding a tournament for teenagers at tomorrow’s event. Chess teams from San Francisco’s O’Connell High School and Youth Speaks Poetry Workshop will compete, along with teens from Unity High School and the Youth Uprising Community Center in Oakland.
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Event host, Rakaa Iriscience of Dilated Peoples, encourages all young people to come check out this unique marriage of hip-hop and chess. “Some of their favorite artists are coming to support them and try to show them that the mind is the strongest weapon they have,” he sid to HipHopDX. “We will show them the true fun, warrior spirit and respect that chess commands.”
Educating, and therefore elevating, the minds of hip-hop’s youngest fans is the primary goal of HHCF. Founded by famed Hip Hop journalist Adisa Banjoko (the scribe behind www.lyricalswords.com), along with artist Leo “Blast” Libiran, HHCF held its first event this past February featuring rappers, mixed martial arts fighters, and other entertainers demonstrating patience, focus, and other crucial life skills in front of their young fans.
One can’t deny the impact Hip Hop artists have on their audience, and if successful the artists involved with HHCF may just be able to convince young Hip Hop heads that chess should be seen as an integral part of their culture. “Chess isn’t necessarily Hip Hop,” Rakaa reminds, “but it is played from castles to the very streets and parks where Hip Hop was created. The principles can also be applied to everything from writing a song, to arranging a show, to negotiating a contract, to maneuvering through life in general. As street life is often very tricky, the game of chess and its principles could prove to be welcome and appreciated by the Hip Hop Nation.”
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Before returning to work on his forthcoming solo album, Crown Of Thorns, Rakaa offers up one more sales pitch to those skeptical of attending an event comprised of what some view as their grandfather’s game. “This isn’t a boring chess exhibition, this is an MMA Championship and a World Class Hip Hop Battle rolled into one…on a game board!”
Tickets for tomorrow are still available at www.hiphopchessfederation.com – only $7 for Students (with valid ID; to reserve student tickets call 415-597-6705). All proceeds go to a scholarship fund for the teenage tournament winners.
