Education

BROOKLYN CASTLE tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country.

The film follows the challenges these kids face in their personal lives as well as on the chessboard, and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about the anticipation of their victories.

Ironically, the biggest obstacle thrust upon them arises not from other competitors but from recessionary budget cuts to all the extracurricular activities at their school.

BROOKLYN CASTLE shows how these kids’ dedication to chess magnifies their belief in what is possible for their lives. After all, if they can master the world’s most difficult game, what can’t they do?

http://www.brooklyncastle.com/about/synopsis


The School
I.S. 318

Brooklyn, New York’s Intermediate School 318 is a testament to the transformational powers of chess, quality afterschool programming, and a dedicated staff. The school’s chess program began as a loose gathering of chess enthusiasts – the “Chess Nuts,” as they called themselves – in the early ‘90s. Elizabeth Vicary, then working for nonprofit Chess-in-the-Schools, arrived at I.S. 318 in 1999 to coach a team of just 10 kids who’d never before competed in a tournament. By the end of her first year, the school had a National title and a reason to be excited about chess.

The program expanded exponentially over the following years, and today I.S. 318 boasts a team of nearly 100 students and a display case showcasing a staggering number of chess trophies. The school currently holds more National chess titles than any other junior high school in the country; offers 45 afterschool programs in subjects as diverse as robotics, botany and tennis; and is one of New York City’s most successful schools.



James A Black, certified chess master, is the skinny black kid in front.

The school’s conquering heroes — its chess players — were blowing off steam. On Sunday, in Minneapolis, they became the first middle school team to win the United States Chess Federation’s national high school championship. The team, mostly eighth graders, beat out top high schools like Stuyvesant in Manhattan and Thomas Jefferson in Alexandria, Va.

The victory burnishes what is already a legend in the chess world. At I.S. 318, more than 60 percent of the students come from families with incomes below the federal poverty level. Yet each stairwell landing bristles with four-foot chess trophies, and the school celebrities are people like James A. Black Jr. A 13-year-old with twinkly eyes and curly eyelashes, James is not a football hero or a valedictorian, but a certified chess master who gently corrects his teachers on the fine points of strategy.

I.S. 318 is a perennial powerhouse, often sweeping middle school national championships against exclusive schools where more students can afford private lessons... The school placed second in the high school competition in 2011. This year, I.S. 318 and Manhattan’s elite Hunter College High School tied for first, but I.S. 318 took home the first-place trophy because its opponents in the tournament won more games than Hunter’s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/nyregion/at-brooklyns-is-318-the-cool-kids-are-the-chess-champs.html?pagewanted=all