St. Louis, city of the year

Friday, August 7, 2009, 2:38pm CDT
St. Louis named ‘chess city’ of 2009
St. Louis Business Journal

The U.S. Chess Federation has named St. Louis as Chess City of the Year and will honor St. Louisans Tony Rich and Rex Sinquefield for promoting the game.

The awards will be presented at the federation’s annual awards luncheon Saturday in Indianapolis.

Tony Rich, executive director of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, will receive the federation’s award for Organizer of the Year. Rex Sinquefield, founder and board member of the Chess Club, will receive a gold Koltanowski Award from the federation; the award recognizes outstanding contributions to or supporting chess.

The Chess Club and Scholastic Center was founded in 2007 with funding from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation. Rex Sinquefield, founder of Dimensional Fund Advisors and the Show-Me Institute, and his wife, Jeanne, formed the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation to support organizations that enhance music, children, art and education.

The Chess Federation said it chose St. Louis, the site of this year’s U.S. Chess Championship, because the city has worked hard to create, sponsor and promote chess in the community.

The nonprofit Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, in the Central West End, hosted the championship this year. It also will host the 2009 U.S. Women’s Chess Championship on Oct. 3-13.

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com