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This 2 minute slide show is of people living in an Alzheimer's facility in Orange County. Photography by Mary Ann Amor.

The 800-Pound Chess-Playing Gorilla

The 800-Pound Chess-Playing Gorilla

By Patrick Ellis

By way of introduction I will start by dealing with the 800-pound chess-playing gorilla in the room, which is..."What is this Coach Patrick doing emailing me a newsletter for chess club directors, chess coaches, chess players and caregivers from the Alzheimer's Prevention Charity?"

The answer is personal. When my 82-year-old mother was in a nursing home soon before she passed away I went to see her one day and walked into the front office to see where she had been moved. I saw rooms and hallways lined with wheelchairs full of elderly people who appeared to be asleep. To my surprise a gentleman who was near me fell out of his wheelchair at my feet as if dead. I quickly told a nurse what happened. That image of warehoused bodies haunts me to this day and that is what motivates me to try to save as many of "The Greatest Generation" as I can from the Alzheimer's epidemic. I later found out that most of those people were just having their bodies stored for months or even years before they passed away because they had Alzheimer's disease. At the end stage of Alzheimer's the person can't move or communicate and are totally helpless before the disease kills them.

What does this have to do with chess? Researchers have found that people who play chess are 60-75% less likely to get Alzheimer's than those who just watch TV. The brain behaves like muscles. "Use it or lose it." This means that our charity has the opportunity to save more than 200,000 people this year alone in the United States from dying this slow and painful death. This is what the Alzheimer's Prevention Charity is all about. It not only slowly robs a person of their memory but their family has to sit and watch while their loved one is slowly over years robbed of their memory and life. If we can teach adults to have fun playing chess or simply play with those who know how to play many lives can be saved. One day you too might be in a nursing home. Wouldn't it be nice to have a friendly face come and play chess with you each week?

I can't save the lives of these wonderful people alone. I have fibromyalgia and other health problems that restrain me to organizational and training duties and writing this newsletter. Please take a moment to look through the buttons on the right side of this newsletter to see how you can volunteer to help save the lives of people like your husband, wife, father, mother, grandmother or grandfather. If each one of you can donate 1-2 hours per week or $5 or more per month you can help save a lot of lives from a fate truly worse than death.

It is my prayer that some of you will volunteer to write articles for this newsletter. In addition to my articles I hope it will be written by you- some of the best chess coaches, club presidents and chess players to help your club and other clubs grow and be even more fun. Our website is designed for you to be able to communicate with other- volunteers, club presidents, chess coaches, chess players and caregivers like yourself. Thank you for taking some small action to volunteer to save a life near you. If you ever have any questions you can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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