The number two Chess player in Uganda is currently a 15 year old girl who lives in the slums and is just learning to read. How did she learn to play? A rep from the Sports Outreach Institute saw that, for some kids, Chess might reach them better than soccer. (source)

Two students at UPC-Barcelona Tech’s Terrassa School of Engineering have developed an augmented reality Chess tutor. You make the moves on the board in front of a webcam, and the game is displayed on screen with additional information, such as legal moves and so on. (source)

ObSet: The King Kong Deluxe Chess Set by Weta (a conceptual design studio supplying props, costumes, and casting for the likes of James Cameron and Peter Jackson). $130 at Amazon (instead of $350 at Weta’s site).