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Nov 20, 2008 8:11 am US/Eastern
Princeton Chess Players Take On NJ Inmates
TRENTON (AP) ―
David Wang and Kelvin Washington faced off over a chess board yesterday in the gymnasium of New Jersey State Prison.
The two men couldn't be further apart in the outside world. Wang is a Princeton University sophomore, and Washington is serving a 50-year prison term for robbery.
The two were taking part in a tradition that began six years ago, in which Princeton students travel 16 miles from their Ivy League campus to the Trenton prison to play chess with the inmates.
The chess club at New Jersey State Prison has 75 members, including inmates serving life sentences for murder, robbery and other heinous crimes.
Each year, one or two inmates manage to defeat a Princeton visitor. But this year, 12 of the 46 participating inmates won their matches.
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