ChessFest, a celebration organized annually by the McDermott Library and the chess program at The University of Texas at Dallas, later this month will feature a presentation by teacher David MacEnulty, who also will receive the Chess Educator of the Year award from the university.
The honor will be given on Tuesday, Feb. 27, following a talk by MacEnulty in the library’s McDermott Suite. MacEnulty’s lecture, which will begin at 7 p.m., is titled “Chess and Emotional Development: Helping the Child.” A 6:15 p.m. reception will precede the event.
In 2005, actor Ted Danson portrayed MacEnulty in A&E Network’s production of Knights of The South Bronx. The movie featured MacEnulty’s efforts to improve the lives of disadvantaged children in the South Bronx.
“David MacEnulty has made an enormous impact on chess and education,” said James Stallings, director of the UT Dallas chess program. “He has been teaching chess in New York for the past 15 years, and his students have won numerous trophies and are consistently rated among the top five teams in the nation. He is truly one of the leading chess educators of our time.”
“Not only is Mr. MacEnulty an excellent teacher, but he is an author as well,” said Dr. Larry D. Sall, dean of libraries at UT Dallas. “He has written three books and six e-books about chess. As a librarian, I find his efforts especially gratifying and look forward to his visit to the university.”
MacEnulty spent eight years as a teacher at Community Elementary School 70 in New York and served as director of program development at Chess-in-the-Schools. For the past three years, he has been head of the Dalton Chess Academy at the Dalton School in New York. In the most recent national tournament in Orlando, his third and fourth graders captured the national championship. MacEnulty appears regularly at chess camps across the country.
ChessFest VI again will include the popular “Challenge the Champions” competition, which will take place in the library’s lobby from 1 to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28. There, members of the UT Dallas chess team — which boasts some of top collegiate players in the country — along with the university’s chess club, will play students and anyone wishing to challenge them in games of chess.
As an added attraction this year, UT Dallas Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez will play blindfold chess in the library’s lobby from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Ramirez’s games will be projected onto a large screen. The library also will feature chess in its main lobby display case during the two-day festival.
ChessFest, MacEnulty’s talk and the reception are free and open to the public, and children are welcome. Seating for the presentation is limited and participants are asked to contact Stallings for a reservation at 972-883-2898 or e-mail james.stallings@utdallas.edu.
About UT Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the university’s website at www.utdallas.edu.
Contact Tom Koch, UT Dallas McDermott Library, 972-883-4951, tkoch@utdallas.edu