LINDSBORG, Kansas, July 25, 2008 – It’s not every day that you get chess advice from the world’s best player. It is probably even more rare for that lesson to occure in Lindsborg, Kansas. But the city is no stranger to the game.

Young chess champions from around the nation are in Lindsborg this weekend for U.S. Junior Open Tournament.     

"I've heard a lot about this place, they have had many chess tournaments, and had spectacular matches, chess events here,” said 2007 World Chess Champion Varuzhan Akobian. “So basically it's the center of chess in the U.S."

He’s not kidding. Seven-time world champion Anatolv Karpov established his first U.S. chess school in Lindsborg after his visit in 2002. Three years later, former Russian Preident Mikhail Gorbachev made a stop in the small Kansas town to help celebrate a worldwide initiative called Chess for Peace.

"Chess is considered a science and an art, and Lindsborg is considered sort of an art community, so it’s a perfect place for chess,” said Karpov Chess School President Marck Cobb.

About 200 kids from across the nation are coming to Lindsborg to compete in the U.S. Chess Championship and learn from some of the best.

"It’s kinda hard to explain everything, but we've been learning tactics and watching games,” said Joseph Stafford from Memphis, Tennessee.

Lindsborg wasn't supposed to host this year’s tournament. New York was the original location, but scheduling conflicts forced it to move, which is probably the first time Lindsborg has beat out New York in anything.

Chess has certainly provided a nice boost to the town’s economy and who knows, maybe one of these studens will become the next grandmaster. If they do, maybe they’ll remember that their career started right here in Kansas.