Saturday: Chess Fever is Taking Over Ronald McNair Park in Crown Heights

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Prepare to protect your King and ready your mighty Queen: the Brooklyn Chess Festival is taking place this Saturday, Aug. 20 in Dr. Ronald McNair Park.

The free annual event, which is a co-production of the Parks Department and New York Chess & Games, runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the green space, located at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Classon Avenue.

Chess boards and pieces will be provided by the organizers. You will, however, have to bring your A-game if you want to hold your own against National Grand Master Alexander Lenderman, or Masters Andrey Krasnov and Azeez Alade (a Murrow High School champion), all of whom will be on hand to play festival participants.

There's also a kids tournament for players in grades 1 through 8, a Blitz Chess tournament open to all, and instructional clinics (we're trying to find out exactly when these events will take place during the day, and we'll update this post when we do).

You can RSVP for the event here.

Top image courtesy of Habibah Agiandah/Flickr