Chicago police officers, UFC fighters join CPS students for chess tournament
The Chicago Police Department is partnering with UFC fighters to connect Chicago Public Schools students for a chess tournament.
It may all seem like an odd combination, but it works.
More than a dozen kids, four UFC fighters, and several officers only had five minutes to play a game of chess in the West Humboldt Park neighborhood.
The Chicago Police Department says the Cops & Kids chess engagement has been going on for the past five years with the Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation. This year, they partnered with Ultimate Fighting Championship.
"You're always competitive, right? Any UFC fighter, you want to win at anything you do, and I think chess is one of those competitive sports where it's more than brawns," said UFC fighter Belal Muhammad.
The Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation said chess players, police officers, and UFC fighters all use the same skills.
"It's learning that you have to master what you're doing," said Renaissance Knights Chess Foundation president and founder David Heiser. "You have to spend the time to learn what you're doing and see the whole picture."
"When you look at the game of chess, it's a game of strategy — similar to what the UFC does," said Chicago police Chief Angel Novalez. "It's about conflict resolution, about preparation, and it's about healthy competition."
Euniece Dimasacat, 12, played against Muhammad.
"Overall, it's a really nice experience to actually, like, go play with the UFC fighters," said Euniece.
They played three rounds of chess, and she won two out of the three games.
"It's a really great experience that we get to talk to them and play with them," said Euniece.
"You see their energy. You see them, how they react to it — and that's always the best feeling," said Muhammad, "When you leave them, and they leave with a different side of who they think you are or what they learned from you, it's the best feeling ever."