The Champions' Game: A True Story

by Saul Ramirez, John Seidlitz

Overview

In April of 2015, a team of 12 middle schoolers—border kids—from South-Central El Paso surprised the country by taking first place in the national chess championships.

The 11, 12 and 13-year-old chess players at El Paso ISD’s Henderson Middle School largely credit their success to one man: Saul Ramirez, a 30-year-old dad and husband who teaches art at Henderson during the day and coaches the chess team after school. The story of Ramirez and his students is chronicled in The Champions’ Game, a testament to the resilience and spirit of children who dare to dream.

Many of the 700-plus students at Henderson Middle School come and go from across the border in Juárez, where they live. A third of the students are English Language Learners, and over 96 percent are from low-income families, with all of the students at the school qualifying for the free lunch program.

For these kids, dreams of beating highly privileged students from “fancy” schools in upper-crust neighborhoods aren’t on the radar. They have bigger issues to deal with in life. Which is why it borders on the miraculous that they choose to voluntarily—even enthusiastically—commit countless hours every week to the practice of a game that they had known virtually nothing about until two years ago when Ramirez started a chess club at Henderson.

Ramirez’s genius is not so much the chess that he teaches (even though he’s a former Texas state chess champion), but in his ability to intertwine life principles with chess rules to expand the minds, the insight and even the future possibilities of the students he teaches. The book’s 14 chapters lay out Ramirez’s rules for life—and chess, introducing concepts like guard your queen, control your center and protect your king.

Ramirez grew up in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio, a neighborhood that might bring to mind Compton, or South Central, or 8 Mile, often noted as the poorest zip code in the United States. Ramirez seems to possess a singular ability to draw out the talents of his students, perhaps because chess is much more than just a game to him. In The Champions’ Game, he writes,

“I want to start a revolution. A revolution of the mind. I want to do what was done for me by [the people] who were always there for me when I was a child, guiding me, teaching me, showing me how to be a man, an artist, a teacher. I want to build children anew, from the mind up. That does not take genius. It takes love.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780997740233
Publisher:	Canter Press
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	706,846
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.46(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Saul Ramirez is the chess coach and art teacher at Henderson Middle School in El Paso, Texas, where he coached his students to win the national chess championships in 2015 and 2016. Ramirez grew up in El Paso's Segundo Barrio, one of the poorest zip codes in the United States, and discovered chess as a child, which became a pathway out of misfortune. Ramirez, like his current students, competed and became a champion in various state and national tournaments. Ramirez graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in May 2010 and started teaching at Henderson Middle School in August of that same year, where he continues to create new paths for the dreams of his students. He lives in El Paso with his wife, Edna, and two children, Saul Jr. and Frida.

John Seidlitz is an independent educational consultant and founder of Seidlitz Education. He is the author or co-author of numerous publications on teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). He is the co-author of the children's book 'Sometimes', which chronicles the story of elementary age Mexican immigrants. He has taught social studies and ESL, served as a secondary ESL program coordinator, and held the position of education specialist at ESC Region 20 in San Antonio, Texas. Seidlitz has been a member of the SIOP® National faculty and guest lecturer for many regional and national language development conferences. He lives in Irving, Texas, with his wife and five children.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Rule 1: Go Big or Go Home

Rule 2: No Such Thing as Losing

Rule 3: You Have to Really Want It

Rule 4: Develop Your Pieces

Rule 5: Protect the King

Rule 6: Cherish Your Queen

Rule 7: Every Move Has a Purpose

Rule 8: Know When to Walk Away

Rule 9: Don’t Judge by Appearance

Rule 10: Sacrifice

Rule 11: Expect the Unexpected

Rule 12: Never Give Up

Rule 13: Control Your Center

Rule 14: Visualize Your Win

Epilogue: The New Kings & Queens

Appendix

Afterword

Editorial Reviews

“An inspiring, true story.”

— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A movie-ready narrative about how [Saul Ramirez]—a scrappy, dauntless Henderson Middle School art teacher—took a dozen students, most from underprivileged or lower-income backgrounds, to the 2015 National Chess Tournament and won. [ The Champions’ Game] is a love letter to these students, to chess, and to El Paso.”

— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Accessible for all readers, this story is a natural for the big screen: check and mate.”

— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

FULL KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW:

Chess is life, and life is chess in El Paso, Texas, the unpretentious setting for an inspiring, true story. As told to Seidlitz through hours of interviews, Ramirez's account is a movie-ready narrative about how he—a scrappy, dauntless Henderson Middle School art teacher—took a dozen students, most from underprivileged or lower-income backgrounds, to the 2015 National Chess Tournament and won. Readers are introduced to 12 Mexican-American and Mexican players who not only choose to learn chess, but are determined to compete. "Mister," as his students fondly call him, cleverly relates life's lessons to chess strategies: protect the king (oneself); cherish your queen (practice proper etiquette and good manners); control your center (or emotions and actions); know when to walk away; and don't judge by appearances. Nuggets of Spanish are intertwined, accurately evoking the border's Tex-Mex sound; translations are efficiently offered as footnotes. While the kids are the stars, it is Mister's coaching and preparation that motivate his players; he believes that race and economic status have nothing to do with what a person is capable of accomplishing. It is not smooth sailing all the way, which makes the journey all the more endearing. More than anything, Mister's account is a love letter to these students, to chess, and to El Paso. Accessible for all readers, this story is a natural for the big screen: check and mate. (appendix, afterword) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

“Saul’s story is an engaging illustration of the power of chess to transform lives and communities. Having led professional development for educators across the country, I have watched teachers discover the value of chess in the classroom and enthusiastically introduce chess to their students to impact literacy, math, critical thinking, and life skills. The Champions’ Game is an up-close journey of a teacher, his school, and his community as they realize the changes that follow when students learn the Royal Game. For any educators who wonder if chess could make a difference in their schools, this is a must-read!” – Jerry Nash, National Chess Education Consultant, www.chess2learn.com

From the Publisher

06/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—The true story of 12 Mexican American middle school chess champions from El Paso, TX, who competed at the national level in 2015, often up against more experienced, privileged teams. Many of these now champions had never encountered chess before joining the after-school club coached by their art teacher and coauthor of this book, Ramirez. During practices, Ramirez strove to make connections between the game and the students' lives, hoping to impart life lessons as well as sound chess strategies. He reminded his students to "protect the queen" on the chessboard and the queens in their lives, he taught the importance of knowing when to sacrifice a small piece to save the overall game, and he drove home the lesson that in life, as well as in chess, you have to want what you're going after. Teens will learn a lot about how the game is played from this read; however, the one too many inspirational platitudes may tire more sophisticated readers. VERDICT Purchase for collections looking for narrative nonfiction or schools where chess clubs thrive.—Leighanne Law, Scriber Lake High School, WA

School Library Journal

★ 2017-03-29
Chess is life, and life is chess in El Paso, Texas, the unpretentious setting for an inspiring, true story. As told to Seidlitz through hours of interviews, Ramirez's account is a movie-ready narrative about how he—a scrappy, dauntless Henderson Middle School art teacher—took a dozen students, most from underprivileged or lower-income backgrounds, to the 2015 National Chess Tournament and won. Readers are introduced to 12 Mexican-American and Mexican players who not only choose to learn chess, but are determined to compete. "Mister," as his students fondly call him, cleverly relates life's lessons to chess strategies: protect the king (oneself); cherish your queen (practice proper etiquette and good manners); control your center (or emotions and actions); know when to walk away; and don't judge by appearances. Nuggets of Spanish are intertwined, accurately evoking the border's Tex-Mex sound; translations are efficiently offered as footnotes. While the kids are the stars, it is Mister's coaching and preparation that motivate his players; he believes that race and economic status have nothing to do with what a person is capable of accomplishing. It is not smooth sailing all the way, which makes the journey all the more endearing. More than anything, Mister's account is a love letter to these students, to chess, and to El Paso. Accessible for all readers, this story is a natural for the big screen: check and mate. (appendix, afterword) (Nonfiction. 12-16)

Kirkus Reviews