The Champions' Game

In April of 2015, a team of 12 middle schoolers - "boarder kids" - from South-Central El Paso surprised the country by competing in the national chess championships.

For these kids, dreams of beating highly privileged students from "fancy" schools in upper-crust neighborhoods aren't on the radar. They have bigger issues to deal with in life. Which is why it borders on the miraculous that they choose to voluntarily - even enthusiastically - commit countless hours every week to the practice of a game that they had known virtually nothing about until art teacher Saul Ramirez started a chess club at Henderson Middle School.

The Champions' Game follows Ramirez's original 12 champions through their triumphs - and failures - at local, state and national chess competitions. Under Ramirez's caring but firm tutelage, the rising stars of El Paso hunker down, deal with the challenges of life and trust Ramirez to mentor them in their new extracurricular passion - chess.