The Kings of New York: A Year Among the Geeks, Oddballs, and Geniuses Who Make Up America's Top High School Chess Team

Edward R Murrow School, Brooklyn, New York. An unconventional group of kids at an unconventional school located in the heart of the most unconventional city in America is making headlines. With a chess club. In "The Kings of New York", writer Michael Weinreb spends a year with the Murrow chess team, from cash games in Washington Square Park to state tournaments in Nashville, bringing to life an eccentric cast of characters. Meet Sal, Lithuanian self-proclaimed 'stupid, lazy genius'; Ilya, a shy Ukrainian immigrant; Oscar Santana, a Puerto Rican teen; Nataliya, the only girl on the team; and coach Eliot Weiss - a former pro ice-hockey player turned maths teacher. They're a true cross-section of New York: immigrants, natives, rich, poor, black, and white, kids who couldn't be more different except when it comes to one thing - chess. "The Kings of New York" is the story of how these eight boys and girls battle their differences to come together as a team, and how they face their victories and disappointments. Above all, it's the story of a group of gifted misfits searching for the silence and order and strange beauty that can be found within those sixty-four squares on a chess board.