Over The Chessboard

Over the Chessboard believes everyone can learn to play and excel at chess. We use chess as a tool to promote education, leadership and respect. We especially focus on girls since they currently represent only 10% of U.S. tournament players.

Jessica Era Martin – Founder & Director

Jessica Era Martin is the author of four chess books, the first of which has 35 chess activities: Learn to Play Chess, How to Play Chess for Kids, Chess Strategy for Beginners, & Chess Openings for Beginners. All are available wherever books are sold. She has ranked in the top 100 women in the US, formerly number one woman in NC, and she has been a chess instructor for over 20 years. After training with Chess-in-the-Schools in NYC, she developed programs in NY, AZ, and NC. Martin has coached her students at local, State, and National Championships. Martin is the past Vice President of Scholastic Chess of the North Carolina Chess Association (NCCA). She was a weekly author for chesskid.com from 2010-2015. The International School of Tucson created a chess scholarship in Jessica’s name. It is one of her goals to encourage more girls and women to participate in chess.