Alpha Phi Alpha’s Dunlap touts Chess Initiative
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was founded in December 4, 1906 at Cornell University, just celebrating its 118th anniversary. The 290,000-member has always promoted academic excellence and scholarship, and the organization has national programs, including “Project Alpha” and “Go-to-Highschool-Go-to-College.” It is the first Black intercollegiate fraternity with more than 700 chapters across the world.
Tony Dunlap, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha’s Delta Alpha Lambda Chapter in Cleveland, founded the non-profit organization “Y Not Chess,” the latest attempt at using chess as a platform for academic advancement and teaching life strategies. A “Chess Dad,” Dunlap started his initiative more than ten years ago and has received support by fraternity officials for widespread adoption.
The Initiative
Currently, we organize chess tournaments in Cleveland, Louisville, and Milwaukee, with plans on expanding to Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore/DC, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Atlanta in 2025. Another component of our initiative is providing chess instruction through chess academies. Our initiative is to provide an educational program that uses chess to strengthen the skills that young people need to be successful in life.
We have recently completed three scholastic chess tournaments in the Midwest region, with a fourth pending for February or March in Michigan.
· Cleveland, Oct 5th
· Louisville, Oct 12th
· Milwaukee, Nov 9th
Y Not Chess completed one successful instructional chess program virtually with Xi Lambda in Chicago back in the spring for our first Alpha chess academy.
We are planning to invite the champion of each of these districts to our regional convention in March to play for the Alpha championship and win scholarship dollars. Highlighting and presenting a live scholastic competition to the brotherhood would be an integral step in advancing the national program idea.
If you are interested, we would like a follow-up to your stories from October 2013, November 2013, and November 2014.
To promote scholastic chess and provide chess instruction to African American youth across my fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha’s geographical footprint, I founded a non-profit organization named Y Not Chess. Currently, we organize chess tournaments in Cleveland, Louisville, and Milwaukee, with plans on expanding to Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore/DC, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Atlanta in 2025. Another component of our initiative is providing chess instruction through chess academies. Our initiative is to provide an educational program that uses chess to strengthen the skills that young people need to be successful in life.
Current Activity:
· Just completed our first chess academy (virtually) with XL chapter in Chicago
· Cleveland Scholastic Chess Tournament, DAL chapter, Oct 5th, completed
· Louisville Scholastic Chess Tournament, AL chapter, Oct 12th, completed
· Milwaukee Scholastic Chess Tournament, DCL chapter, Nov 9th, completed
Current scholarships:
· Morris Brown College
· Howard University
· Hampton University|
· Alabama A&M University, pending new agreement
· University of Maryland Baltimore County, pending new agreement
· Alabama State University, offer pending
· Clark Atlanta University
Current job internships:
· Messer Construction
· FS360 General Contractors
Tony Dunlap, Sr.
www.ynotchess.org
440-339-6340