Chastity’s Chess Challenge: Manifesto of Chess Equality

My name is Chastity White Rose. That is not my legal name but it is the name I chose for myself to describe who I am. I will expand on this later. The purpose of this blog post is to explain in full detail what my Chess teaching business is and what the goals are. I will be known as the Chess Coach for the LGBTQIA community as well as those with ADHD, autism, or any other disability.

The reason for this is that most of the great Chess masters who are capable of teaching very well, including my favorite, Levy Rozman, are much too busy and don’t have the patience or experience I do at understanding people with differences often misunderstood by the public.

But I am autistic and transgender. I understand the LGBTQIA community extremely well. I also know that autistic people have unique talents that can be brought out with the right teacher. Some of us are really good at math. Others are good with words but can’t do math at all! Some of us can’t talk, while others never shut up! However, I believe that there is something about the game of Chess that is specifically good for autistic people because it allows us to use our minds in a way that is void of expectations of human society.

Different people are like different Chess pieces that move in different ways. The loss of even a few pieces can cause a player to lose the game in the end. Therefore, Chastity’s Chess Challenge is about teaching Chess to those people who may otherwise never learn. We live in a time where people have all heard of Chess and yet so few people play it because a lot of money is spent on promoting the latest video game or movie to children. While I am a supporter of movies, video games, books, and all forms of entertainment for children and adults, I also believe that we forget the days when people played simple board and card games with friends back when we didn’t have television, computers, or even electricity!

When I was in my twenties, I played Chess with older adults at the Gamber Center in Lees Summit. That’s when I learned that despite the differences in age and life experience, we were all complete equals in the game of Chess. We were equals because any of us could win. Chess isn’t a game where some people are always going to be superior. All that really matters is the time and dedication to improving. But more important than that is the fact that Chess is fun because you never know what will happen.

I would also like to explain why I use the Progress Flag as part of my logo. The idea is that the Progress Flag represents people of all kinds, including those who are gay, transgender, and of different skin colors. Some people wildly misinterpret the image as me saying that Chess has something to do with being gay. The point is that people who are gay or transgender do not need to be afraid of me because I am one of them. I never want someone to be afraid of Chess just because they see only famous players who are cisgender straight white males. The world is tired of only one demographic of people getting the spotlight in Chess.

Chess is a way of fighting back against a world that judges by appearance and financial status. In the game of Chess, the poor can win against a billionaire, the women can win against the men, and gender identity, sexual orientation, and skin color will not cause you to win or lose. In this way, I find that Chess is perfect because no personality is assigned to the chess pieces themselves. It is a game played by humans using shaped pieces that don’t resemble humans.

What I do for my teaching business is that I record videos and I write about Chess in the hope of inspiring people to get into this game they have heard of but never had someone to teach them! I also can set up one-on-one sessions either online or locally to anywhere in Lees Summit that I can walk to! That is what Chastity’s Chess Challenge is about. I only have so much time to dedicate to it now, but when I graduate from college, I expect to be much more active!