Chess Gives Alum Jessica Lauser a Sense of Equality

CNN -- “When I saw that a child could beat an adult in this game, (I knew) there was obviously something special and different about this chess. It meant that it wasn’t something that depended on the fact that somebody was stronger than someone else or that they had to see like everyone else. There was something special about (the game) that made me want to learn more.”

As an adult, she found comfort in playing chess on the streets of Washington, D.C., San Francisco and San Jose.

She said her favorite place to play has been the student union at San Francisco State University, from which she got one of her two undergraduate degrees at age 36. Not surprisingly, her games would always draw a crowd.