Chess tournaments don’t generally draw big crowds, but Saturday in Lindsborg, the streets were lined with onlookers and there was a media entourage. That’s because this chess tournament brought Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and two chess grandmasters to small town Kansas. They were there to promote Chess for Peace, a metaphor for nonviolent solutions.

Also there were Topeka Collegiate seventh graders Joseph Barber, Joel Billinger and Jonah Freed, there to compete with 150 or so other chess players in five 10-minutes rounds of chess. Afterward, Interim Head of School Kevin Freed proclaimed, “They did great!” Joel posted three wins and two losses, while Jonah and Joseph each racked up three wins, one draw and one loss.

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