‘Mr. Kentucky Chess’ found stabbed in Jtown
Andrew Wolfson10:27 p.m. EDT March 14, 2015

As world chess champion Garry Kasparov’s designated greeter at the National High School chess championship in Lexington one year, Steve Dillard walked in with the famed Russian to a standing ovation.

“Garry turned to me and said, ‘Mr. Dillard, I didn’t realize you were so famous,'” Dillard later recalled, upon his election to the Kentucky Chess Hall of Fame.

The crowd was cheering for Kasparov, of course, but to Kentucky chess players, Dillard also was a true champion.

The Jefferson County math teacher introduced chess into some of Jefferson County’s most beleaguered public schools, bought thousands of chess sets for Kentuckians who couldn’t afford them, and last year was given the U.S. Chess Association’s life achievement award for directing more tournaments – 3,000 — than any American.

Dillard, 55, who also fostered troubled children, was found beaten and stabbed to death Friday in his Jeffersontown home, and police charged one of his former foster kids with murder.

Ronshai Jenefor, 21, was being held in Jefferson County Jail on a $100,000 cash bond. He was found about a half-mile from Dillard’s home walking in the rain, drenched and with blood on his hands, according to Jeffersontown police.

Dillard’s body was found at about 11 a.m. by his sister, police said.

Jefferson County deputy coroner Rita Taylor confirmed Dillard’s identity on Saturday but his death was announced by the Kentucky Chess Association on its website and confirmed by its officers, including vice president Ryan Velez.

Dillard was supposed to attend a scholastic chess championship Saturday in Lexington; instead, about 1,000 people were mourning his death, Velez said.

“He was the biggest single promoter of chess in the country — and that’s a fact,” Velez said. “You can’t find a single chess person in Kentucky he hasn’t helped.”

Full article here.

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