A few years ago, I read a wire story in The Roanoke Times about “street chess” in Washington, D.C.
The style of “street chess” among African-American players in the nation’s capital is apparently nothing like the version we know from international competitions — faster and louder, for one thing.
The story noted that the chess rule that the white players always go first quite considered quite ironic. That led to this piece “White Goes First.”
It’s been performed several times. This staged reading was at an event on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2012 at the Liminal Gallery at Community High School in Roanoke, Virginia.
Bryan Hancock plays “black,” Chad Runyon plays “white.”
dwayneyancey 