1st Chess & Science Festival & All-Girls Tournament in Tucson
April 13, 2013. Funds are needed to organize the event
Chess is one of the games where girls can challenge the notion of men’s
thinking superiority and compete at the highest intellectual level, effectively
proving that there should be no barriers for women’s accomplishments.
Girls’ social needs are quite different than those of boys. While
the majority of boys are naturally competitive and love to win, girls face
the dilemma of hurting the losers and traumatizing their friends by beating
them. It takes time and a nurturing environment to build girls’ self-esteem,
confidence and competitiveness, so they realize there is nothing wrong with
winning the games, being successful, setting high goals and achieving them,
all while keeping friendship and helping others to improve.
In an effort to help girls get on the right track, encourage and celebrate
their success in chess and in life, Catalina Foothills Chess Academy and
Flandrau Science Center are organizing “1st Chess & Science Festival”
on April 13, 2013. The event will include an All-Girls Chess Tournament,
simultaneous chess exhibition, various science exhibits, museum admission,
laser shows and more! While the time to prepare is quite short, we strive
to make it an exceptional quality, memorable event that will set a precedent
and hopefully become an annual tradition.
We need sponsors. So far, we got offers of free T-shirts, wristbands, pens
& chess books for prizes... However, we still in need of funds for chess
sets, clocks, pairing software, etc... with a total amount in the range
of $1,000. We truly hope that you’d be able to provide some funds
to help us in our mission to promote intellectual development for girls
through chess and science. Any excess of funds will be used for future events.
Thanks in advance.
We are pleased to inform you that $1,529 has already been pledged, so that
the event can go ahead. But of course more funds will mean more prizes and
greater encouragement for the girls. So do back
the project with a small donation. $1 is the minimum amount.
Brief background: My name is Anjelina Belakovskaia and I'm a 3-Time U.S.
Women's Chess Champion, Woman International Grandmaster, World Champion
among students (USSR Team) and Leader of the US Olympic Chess Team.
Anjelina Belakovskaia
Brief background: My name is Anjelina Belakovskaia and
I'm a three-Time U.S. Women's Chess Champion, Woman International Grandmaster,
World Champion among students (USSR Team) and Leader of the US Olympic Chess
Team. Back in 1998-2000, when I was a Chairperson of the Women's Committee
of the United States Chess Federation, I tried very hard to get separate
girls tournaments going, but faced extremely tough opposition from within.
Luckily, the times have changed. All-girls tournaments are great –
they boost self-esteem, confidence and help girls to prove that they are
at least as smart as boys and can be very successful in all areas of life,
including science, mathematics, business, finance and other male dominated
areas.
More
information on the project is available here
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