Brian Lewis

Checkmate Brian Lewis

A moving account of how a chess team made up of council estate children inspired an entire working-class community to take up the game that had normally been played by those from a more privileged background.




Micklefield School in the heart of a working-class community was inspired by a formidable teacher called Mr. Green who made it his quest to form a chess team that would make the school and the area proud. After two years of training the school produced 5 individual chess champions, the school started winning the chess league and produced a player (Brian Lewis) that beat an International Grandmaster within 4 years at the age of 12.