El Centro chess club prepares for tough competition at South Padre tournament
12:00 AM CST on Monday, December 28, 2009
By JON NIELSEN / The Dallas Morning News jnielsen@dallasnews.com

Felipe Jesse Cruz doesn’t lose many matches. So when a 19-year-old opponent steals Cruz’s queen in 15 minutes, chess coach Darrell Cook takes notice.

Confident. Cunning. Calm. The virtues of a budding chess master.

The mysterious teen who slips into the El Centro chess club meeting is one of the best Cook has ever seen. He’s far superior to anybody in the club, including Cruz, the club’s best player. But when Cook tries to talk to him, the boy dressed in black with a wave of oil black hair seems rushed. Says he has to go. And just like that, he’s gone.

The vanishing act is typical in Cook’s quest to guide a team of hardscrabble unknowns into the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship, the World Series of collegiate chess.

Finding players tests Cook’s patience and persistence.

Here is the full article.

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