A Girl, Her Board, and a Mission

An amazing ChessKid took it upon herself to continue supporting Ukraine in such a creative and fun way. After attending FunMasterMike's event, Katherine decided she wanted to do even more. ChessKid asked her to tell us the story, in her own words!

Chess at the Park

After attending FunMasterMike’s Ukraine charity event, I wanted to continue to support Ukraine with chess. A few days later, my mom and I were going to the park for a bit and thought it would be a good idea to bring my LED backpack with some Ukraine pixel art and a chess set.

Katherine, her chess board, and her signs tell it all. All photo's courtesy of Katherine's family.

That day, I had one player who played two rounds and those two rounds were my first time playing chess over the board. I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed it, well, except for the heat of course.

Now, I have a set schedule for playing chess at the park. On Fridays, I usually come around 6-7 PM and play from then to 9 PM at the latest. And on the weekends, it is usually the same. I play at the Eastwood City open park (please come if you live near Eastwood City 😀)!

I've played mostly adults with a few kids mixed in!

I would really like to thank the Philippine Academy for Chess Excellence (PACE) and the coaches there for teaching me a lot of what I know now and for putting so much time and effort into helping me become a better chess player.

Katherine's shirt reads "Move With A Purpose".

But my main point of playing chess over the board is for supporting Ukraine and the people who can’t play chess and who are affected the most in these times.

I'm hoping that things can return back to normal for the people of Ukraine and peace comes soon for everyone.