Champions of chess to share their passion
 
Couple hope to launch scholastic, club program
By Steve Young
syoung@argusleader.com
PUBLISHED: January 5, 2008
 
A pair of chess grandmasters have landed on Sioux Falls' doorstep, hoping to transform the chess-playing landscape in this region with their arrival.
 
Alex Yermolinsky, a two-time United States champion, and his wife, Camilla Baginskaite, the U.S. women's champion in 2000, arrived in the community a month ago.
 
Their ambition is to develop the largest scholastic chess program in the Midwest, taking the game into every school and youth organization in the area that they can.
 
They will be introduced Sunday at a free chess expo and clinic at 2 p.m. at the Sioux Falls Public Library, 201 N. Main Ave.
 
The couple and their two children - Eddie, 9, and Greta, 4 - came from San Francisco, where Yermolinsky was "Grandmaster in Residence" at the Mechanics' Institute for eight years before he and the club had a parting of ways this year.
 
Having visited Sioux Falls for past Governor's Cup chess tournaments, Yermolinsky and Baginskaite were encouraged by area chess enthusiasts to relocate to South Dakota.
 
They always liked the area when they visited, Yermolinsky, 49, said. And they liked the school system as well.
 
"Obviously, there are places where chess is more popular than Sioux Falls," Yermolinsky said. "But I wanted to apply my talents someplace that didn't have many chess players. I thought maybe I could do a better job starting from scratch. It probably would be more challenging and interesting."
 
The challenge now will be trying to develop the kind of chess program that can provide a living in this area, Yermolinsky said.
 
He and his wife want to develop after-school and evening programs in as many elementary schools as they can, public, parochial, even among the home-schooled. They also want to see if they can tap into youth organizations such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the YMCA, and parks and recreation programs.
 
"What we know is that chess improves thinking skills in children," said Baginskaite, who also will be studying for an education degree at Augustana College. "We want to teach that in a professional manner. We want to do it in a serious manner, too."
 
DeeAnn Konrad, community relations supervisor for the Sioux Falls School District, said Superintendent Pam Homan has agreed to sit down with the couple and other chess enthusiasts in the area to hear their ideas.
 
"We're very early on in any discussions about how or if this could happen," Konrad said. "There's not a plan that has been put into place. But Dr. Homan wants to hear what they have to say."
 
One thing Yermolinsky wants to develop is more tournaments. He wants to offer sessions that include instruction and playing. He and his wife will lecture as well.
 
They bring a wealth of knowledge and skills with them, area chess enthusiasts say. A native of Leningrad in the former Soviet Union, Yermolinsky shared first place in the U.S. Chess Championships in 1993 and won it outright in 1996. He has written a number of books on the game as well.
 
Baginskaite, a native of Lithuania, was the U.S. women's champion in 2000.
 
"For a town this size to have a grandmaster, to have two, is very significant," said Dick Rostrom, who hosts a chess gathering Thursday evenings at the Kenny Anderson Community Center. "I don't know if he can make it go, but I think the interest is here."
 
Nels Truelson of Sioux Falls, who has won state chess championships in Minnesota and South Dakota, said the couple's arrival here should jump-start chess interest and participation in this area.
 
"There is more than sufficient interest as far as children and their parents playing chess in this area," Truelson said. "If they can get this to happen, I wouldn't be surprised if Sioux Falls couldn't become something of a scholastic chess mecca. And in a very short time, we could have teams competing at the very top nationally, winning national titles."
 
He will encourage that competition, Yermolinsky said. But more than that, he wants to develop a serious and sustained interest in learning the game and not just winning and losing.
 
"My heart is into giving back to chess," said Yermolinsky, who still intends to compete himself. "I want to develop the interest. That's why we're here."