Want to win more local tournaments? Move!

According to this list posted on the Lansing Chess Club blog, I would be the 33rd strongest active tournament player in the state of Michigan, if I lived there. Obviously, I'm nowhere close to this rank in Massachusetts.

This got me thinking about where I would need to move to in order to be in the top 5 or 10 rated players. Wyoming, maybe? Idaho? West Virginia? Montana? New Mexico? North Dakota? Alaska?

Is there any state where a marginal Expert/A-player would be a strong contender for the State Championship?

A new recruiting tool for college athletics

From Checkmate: Wolverines bond through chess at The Michigan Daily:

Ever wonder the real reason running back Mike Hart decided to come to Michigan?

Ask Leon Hall, and he'll point to a game they played when Hart visited Ann Arbor on his recruiting trip.

Chess.

"(When Leon pulled out the board) I thought he was real smart, but then I learned he didn't really know how to play," Hart joked at Michigan Media Day. "He thought it was checkers."

Hart emphasized the fact that he beat Hall. But the cornerback spins a different tale from their first match.

"He beat me once, but I won the series," Hall said. "We played three games. I know I won the series. He beat me. He's not lying to you, he beat me, but if he was 1-4, what was that? He won a game, but he lost the other four."

The NCAA has promised an investigation into how Hart went 1-4 in three games.