Eddie Rios
Since 1962, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (St. Jude) has been providing hope for families and miracles for children from all 50 states and from around the world. St. Jude, founded by the late actor Danny Thomas, does all this at no cost to the families because “No child should die in the dawn of life.” From its website, “Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago.”
St. Jude accomplishes its mission thanks to corporate gifts and generous donations from individuals. One of them is our Player of the Month.
With help from his wife, Regina, his chess partner for life, our Player of the Month organized a 31-player St. Jude Benefit fundraiser tournament in Kingsville on “National Chess Day” (October 12, 2019), that raised $650 in donations.
“I’m happy I could use my skills to help this hospital (St. Jude) that does so much for the families and their children.”
He is a National Tournament Director with credit for 116 tournaments since he started directing in 1999. His first rated tournament was in 1998. He is a huge supporter of Texas Women’s Chess. He co-organized a Corpus Christi fundraiser tournament that raised $350 to support the 2019 Texas Women’s Chess Championship. He’s also a big supporter of Texas Armed Forces Chess. He organized and directed numerous Texas Scholastic Chess Championships. He always keeps an eye out for low-profile TCA championships, like Texas Teams, and submits bids when other organizers don’t.
He never met a chess player he didn’t like. And he never misses an opportunity to help others improve as chess players and tournament directors. He served as a Region Director for 23 Texas counties from the 1990’s until about a year ago. He continues directing in major events, like the Southwest Open. He capably served as TCA President two terms. His passion is making a difference in Texas Chess and beyond.
For all the above reasons, we at Texas Chess Association proudly salute Eddie Rios as our Player of the Month for November 2019.
If you know someone who should be Player of the Month please tell us. Send email to txchessfacebook@gmail.com. Current TCA membership required.
