By Chris Major President, Novato Chess Club When Novato Chess Club first began, it wasn’t about trophies, ratings, or titles. It was about something simpler—and far more powerful: connection. A chessboard doesn’t care where you’re from. It doesn’t ask what language you speak, what religion you follow, or what side of a border you live on. You sit down. You shake hands. And in silence, you communicate. Over the past several years, that quiet language of chess has carried me fa

By Chris Major President, Novato Chess Club Peace through chess begins with people. Sometimes, it even begins with a simple request to change seats. Earlier this year, I attended the Rotary International Congress in Calgary. During one of the sessions, Olga Ialovenko—part of the Ukrainian Rotary delegation—asked if I would mind moving so her group could sit together. That small, ordinary moment sparked a conversation, then a connection, and within days, the beginning of somet