WELCOME TO www.claudiachess.com

Hi, my name is Abed and I have the blessing of being the father of these two beautiful girls. The daughter on my left is Faith Abigail, she is 13-years old. My other other on my right is Claudia Elizabeth, she is 11-years old.

Both of them were born in Wichita Falls, Texas because that is the city in which I met this other beauty. No, she is not my daughter, she is my wife.

Her name is Claudia, just like my youngest daughter. The reason she looks so young is due to proper dieting, sleep and $20,000 worth of plastic surgery.

JUST KIDDING!

It was only $10,000. Actually, she was blessed with awesome genetics. We are an ordinary family like every other family, except we are the new american family. I say "new" to the fact the we are sons and daughters of mexicans who immigrated to the United States in search of a better lifestyle.

We are proud of our heritage as every american should be of their own. We have dual citizenship as a reminder of who we were and what we are now.

We relocated to Acuna, Mexico in the spring of 2004, from Texas, and although our plans were different, we simply made this city our home. We have our own business and we homeschool our children through a U.S. base curriculum. We are part of the Del Rio homeschool network. By the way, Acuna, Mexico is the border city of Del Rio, Texas.

It was in this city where Claudia learned how to play chess and it was in this country of Mexico where she had her beginnings, we are greatful for that opportunity. However, in 2007, our daughter represented the United States in the North American Youth Championship, where she won the gold medal and based on her performance; she received the Woman Candidate Master title from FIDE.

In 2008, she represented the U.S.A. in the Pan American Youth Championship, where the small american delegation of 21-players, won the 3rd place overall trophy against much larger teams.

Upon returning back home to Acuna, Mexico, we say an immediate change in the attitudes of the FENAMAC (the Mexican Chess Federation) and the CONADE (the Mexican Government Sport's Ministry).

We found out that racisim is universal, in our case because we represented the United States while living on Mexican soil. So, we decided to leave the mexican system of play. We realize that several Mexican chess players attending American colleges are playing in the USCF, without prejudice; hopefully, Mexico can learn from the USCF.

As for now, we are working hard to build a future for our children as well as for ourselves.

In this blog, we will obstain from politics and criticism, we will attempt to highlight the good in people since we already live in a cynical world.

So let's enjoy the ride together!