More than 1,000 elite chess players from around the country came to Philadelphia over the holiday weekend hoping to win the most prestigious American tournament of the year.

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Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson came to Philadelphia from Atlanta hoping to save lives.

A former used-car salesman and state trooper, he didn’t do badly in the World Open. In his best event, the 10-minute match, he won four games and lost one. Good enough for some prize money.

But that wasn’t the point. Hudson, 46, was here to talk to anyone who would listen about his work motivating at-risk youth through chess and chess strategy.

“I was told there’s a lot of need in Philadelphia,” he said. “I want to do something.”

In 2001, Hudson, a father of five, mortgaged his house, quit his job, and launched Be Someone – a nonprofit outreach program in which he teaches chess to young people to detour them from trouble.

He estimates he has reached about 20,000 students since then, although his ultimate goal is much loftier.

“I want to reach a million,” he said. “What I’m doing, it works.”

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