Chess and Community Service

After two posts featuring videos on the recent Candidates tournament in Berlin (the latest was Berlin Candidates - Background), the ongoing series about The Sociology of Chess (November 2016) returns to the theme of community service.

A simple plan for the brilliance of chess (2:38) • 'Published on Mar 30, 2018'

Found on Youtube's WPRI channel ('the source for Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts local news, weather, community, and sports'), the description of the video said,

A local man who fought his way out of poverty wants to give something back to the community.

The related page with a transcript of the broadcast is at A simple plan for the brilliance of chess (wpri.com). It starts,

FALL RIVER, MA. (WPRI) - The game of chess can conjure up its own set of stereotypes. James Medeiros, who struggled with "a lot of horror" as a teenager, doesn't seem to fit any of them. "I just love this game," he said, while contemplating a move on a three-thousand pound chess table. "I don't think I ran into this game as a coincidence. I believe I ran into it for a reason and here I am." He made the move with his bishop, and he also made the table that sits firmly in the Bennie Costa Plaza housing complex in Fall River. Before Medeiros carved chess pieces and built colorful chess tables, he was a mental health worker in a psychiatric hospital.

For another example in this series of chess and community service, see 'Chess Behind Bars' (October 2017).