It's the moment all hip-hop loving chess grand-masters have been waiting for: WuChess.com.
Created by online chess site Chesspark with the help of Wu-Tang Clan kingpin RZA, it claims to be the world's first online chess and hip-hop community (though it seems unlikely there were ever any such communities offline either). The Wu-Tang Clan have always been pioneers in the rap game; this was clearly the logical next step.
The site promises online lessons from chess masters, exclusive MP3s, exhibition games with hip-hop luminaries and online chess matches where you can "play in tournaments for prizes, or just for the joy of flexin' ya mentals." Can't say fairer than that. Next we'll be playing Sudoko with Public Enemy.
And to get you in the mood and prove that they aren't mere johnny-come-latelys in the chess world, here's the Wu-Tang's "Da Mystery of Chess Boxin" all the way from 1993...
I like chess and rap so it all good for me
Posted by: Heidi Hog | Sunday, 22 June 2008 at 01:12 PM
RZA is taking the game seriously and hopes to become a chess master himself. I'm one of the internationally ranked chess masters who will be at this site. I've been learning more about rap (and martial arts, which are also part of the concept), as I'm just a typical San Francisco Deadhead. The idea of bringing together chess, rap and martial arts comes from the Hip-Hop Chess Federation, whose current champion is none other than RZA himself.
Posted by: Eric Schiller | Sunday, 22 June 2008 at 11:35 PM
I looked at the web site, but was not prepared to pay. A free alternative is at the web site flyordie.
Posted by: r | Monday, 23 June 2008 at 07:05 AM