Cover of Material Girls

There are team competitions in chess, which are very fun.  You build a team of four players and play other teams. The strongest player is on “board 1” and the weakest occupies “board 4”.

One of the fun aspects was coming up with a name and then finding costumes to fit the name.

One year we were the “Material Girls” (in chess the pieces are called “material”, so if you have more pieces than your opponent you have a “material advantage”).

We all wore crowns that we made ourselves.  Yes, it was silly, but it was fun.

It was unusual to have an all women’s team. I think that was the only year we did so.  One year, I was with the Roots (Doug and Alexey Root are very strong players) and another friend, Diana Gherghe.

We were “Rooty, Tooty, Fresh and Fruity”.  So, because I was the weakest of this group, I got to be “Fruity”.  I was so honored to be a part of the team that I didn’t mind the constant teasing throughout the tournament.

One year, I got a group to join “Let the Wookie Win” (a Star Wars ref to when C3PO suggested that R2 go easy on Chewy).

I don’t remember how we did as teams, but I do remember looking forward to this competition each year!