“The game has been paused while Space Shuttle Endeavour visits ISS and construction fully occupies their crews. Greg will then return to Earth, and resume play in early December.”

Remember, key players in the game are the kindergarten through third grade U.S. Chess Championship Team and its chess club teammates from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Wash.

The Hosts: NASA and the U.S. Chess Federation (USCF)

Check Out the Details !

The K-3 champions will select up to four possible moves on Earth’s turn. The public then will vote on the move transmitted to orbit.

The game against the public will move at a pace of one move per day on weekdays only. Play may be slower, however, because Chamitoff only makes moves when his workload permits.

The USCF will facilitate the match on its Web site at: http://www.uschess.org/nasa2008

“For the past 10 years, the International Space Station has been an important platform to learn about living in space. We’re excited to have the opportunity to engage not only young students, but the public at large in this unique chess match,” said Heather Rarick, lead flight director for the current space station mission at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“We hope the excitement and interest this game generates will inspire students to become interested in chess,” said USCF Executive Director Bill Hall. “Chess is a valuable tool to lead students to become interested in math and to develop critical thinking skills, objectives we focus on in our work with schools nationwide.”