PHILADELPHIA PA -- Seven young chess players competed with Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) in simultaneous matches at the Philadelphia Youth Chess Challenge on Martin Luther King Jr. Family chess Day sponsored by ASAP – the After School Activities Partnership of Philadelphia.

After seven intense matches, Congressman Fattah scored five victories. Then he posed with the two young chess whizzes who defeated him: Dwight Johnson Jr., 14, of Bethune School, and Toni Lee, 10, of Cleveland School.

ASAP organizes after-school chess in 225 schools with 3,500 young people playing every week in Philadelphia.

As the Congressman castled and checked his way through matches staged along one long table, dozens of young people and parents competed at other boards. The Chess kickoff event for MLK Birthday weekend was held in the African American Museum of Philadelphia on January 19, 2008. 

Event Photos