Official Press Release - February 3, 2009

The University of Texas at Dallas

Dr.Stephen Lipschultz to receive UT Dallas Chess Educator of the Year Award

Richardson, Texas(Feb. 3, 2009) — Dr. Stephen Lipschultz, creator of the Think Like A KingSchool Chess Software System, has been named 2009 Chess Educator of the Year by the University of Texas at Dallas(UTD).  The award will be presented at ChessFest,a collaboration and celebration of chess organized annually by McDermottLibrary and the Chess Program at UTD, and will feature a free, publicpresentation by Lipschultz at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2009 in the library’sMcDermott Suite. The presentation is titled “Making Chess a Success at School:What Schools Need to Win the Game.”

“This is a goodmatch this year having Steve Lipschultz with his top-ranked chess softwaregiving a presentation at our university with its top-ranked chess team,” said JimStallings, Director of the Chess Program.

Lipschultzrecognized the tremendous benefits of chess for students when he established anafter-school chess program in his children’s school in 1994. He developed ThinkLike A King, which has been named the Official Scholastic Software of the U.S.Chess Federation, when he realized that many schools wished to offer chessprograms but did not have the expertise nor tools to do so.  In 1999 he received a U.S. Department ofEducation Small Business Innovation and

Research Grant Award in conjunctionwith his chess project.

Today, Think LikeA King is used in more than 1,600 schools nationwide. Lipschultz emphasizesthat his goal is not to create a new generation of highly competitivegrandmasters. Instead, he wanted to make it easy for schools everywhere to usechess as a vehicle to teach children how to think, to use chess to create new peer-basedrole models of mental athletes, and in so doing show children that success inlife comes from thinking.

Past recipients ofthe Chess Educator award are Susan Polgar, 2004; Sunil Weeramantry, 2005; ErikAnderson, 2006; David MacEnulty, 2007; and Beatriz Marinello, 2008. DavidMacEnulty, whose work using chess to transform the lives of inner city childreninspired the movie, The Knights of theSouth Bronx, is also a contributor to the Think Like A King system, havingauthored the Chess Workouts curriculumportion of the software.

In addition to beingpresident of Food for Thought Software, the company he founded and whichcreated Think Like A King, Dr. Lipschultz is a full-time Chicago-area physicianwho specializes in Clinical Nutrition and Internal Medicine. He is a ClinicalAssociate Professor of Medicine at NorthwesternUniversity and a SeniorAttending Physician at Northshore University Healthcare System.

The public isinvited to a reception and the awards ceremony beginning at 6:15 p.m the eveningof February 24. A light buffet will be provided. Please RSVP to Jim Stallingsat [email protected] or call 972-883-2898 if you plan to attend thereception – or are interested in participating in a chess education seminar forTexas schooldistrict officials which will be held earlier that day.

About UT Dallas

The University of Texasat Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart ofthe complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the TelecomCorridor, enrolls more than 15,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universitiesin terms of average SAT scores.  TheUniversity offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoraldegree programs.  For additionalinformation about UT Dallas, please visit the University’s Web site at www.utdallas.edu.

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Media Contact:  Jim Stallings, UT Dallas, 972-883-2829, [email protected]