Bed-Stuy's All-Girl Chess Club Needs $5K To Go To The Nationals

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Kim Kirkley’s nine-year-old niece Farrah quit her chess club in 2016 because she didn’t like being the only girl in the group. At first, Kirkley accepted the decision. Then, she challenged her little niece to a game.

“My niece beat me at chess, then she beat my friend at chess,” said Kirkley. “We’re both attorneys, we’re bright women.”

“I told my niece, ‘Farrah, you’re way too good at this not to pursue this skill.’”

So Kirkley founded of the Queens of Chess in Kings County, a chess club inspired by Farrah, for little girls between the ages of seven and 12 who want to learn to play competitive chess with other little girls.

The club, founded in July 2016, meets every other week in the house of Bed-Stuy parent. About a dozen Brooklyn girls learn to solve chess problems from Stephanie Ballom, a young woman who won the All Girls National Championships when it first launched 15 years ago, while their parents hang out downstairs.

All of the club members have competed in competitions across New York City and two girls — nine-year-old Annabelle Prastowo and 10-year-old Morgan Crowe — have come home with medals.

“It’s a really calming type of sport," said Crowe in a video on the group's Facebook page. “You just don’t see a lot of people around playing it, so you just wanna like, like spread it across the world so people know how to play it.”

The girls compete in city-wide competitions that take place in enormous cafeterias behind closed doors where parents and coaches often aren't allowed to watch. It's hard sending the girls off alone, but Kirkley is glad they're learning that there's honor in playing, whether you win or lose.

To that end, Kirkley asks each member to sign a contract in which the girls promise to play to win but, should they lose, not to let it break their resolve.

"It takes two people to play and both sides are valuable," the contract reads. "You will embrace the experience of chess and operate as a team with mutual respect and support. Most of all, you will intend to have fun as you share this classic, powerful game."

And the girls do have fun, especially when they play chess with their parents.

"One of their favorite things is seeing we don’t know as much as they do," said Kirkley with a laugh. "Teaching them to be gentle with us was very funny and kinda delicious."

As proud as Kirkley is of her Kings County Queens, she also wants them to know they're not unique. So she is raising $5,000 to send Farrah and seven other girls to the national championships in Chicago the weekend of April 20.

"We want them to see there are lots of girls who play chess," Kirkley told Patch. "We teach our girls, 'Go for the win.'"

Donations to the Queens of Chess in Kings County will cover airfare, food and lodgings and the fees to register the Queens of Chess in Kings County as a non-profit organization.

Photos and video courtesy of the Queens of Chess In Kings County

Correction: The original version of this story mistakenly reported that Morgan Crowe is 11 years old and that the team coach's names was Stephanie Bellom.