HISTORY OF CHESS IN LINDSBORG AND THE KARPOV CHESS SCHOOL              In 1997, Jan Cambridge-Lewis ran a coffee house in Lindsborg.  A few young people came to the coffee house to play chess. Irwin "Wes" Fisk organized the group into the Lindsborg Chess Club, affiliated the club with the U.S. Chess Federation, and held chess classes for the group.  In 1998, students from the club entered the first Kansas State Scholastic Championship held in Wichita, Kansas.  In 1998 and 1999, the club held two USCF rated tournaments.  The club had grown to 60 members.  In December 1999, Mikhail Korenman and his family moved to Lindsborg.  Korenman and Fisk struck up a friendship. Korenman and Fisk continued to work with the chess club after the coffee house closed.  Meanwhile, Korenman made friends with Grandmaster Yury Shulman at a chess tournament in Oklahoma.  Shulman, in turn, introduced Korenman to Grandmaster Alex Onischuk, who was friends with World Champion Anatoly Karpov. Seven-time World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov visited Lindsborg in December of 2002. He was looking for a quiet place to train for his upcoming match in New York with Grandmaster Garry Kasparov. Grandmaster Alex Onischuk had played in several international tournaments in Lindsborg, so he suggested to Karpov that it would be a good place to train. Karpov was impressed with the town and its people, so it was no surprise when he decided to establish his first U.S. chess school in Lindsborg. Karpov has his schools in 15 countries. Karpov appointed Dr. Mikhail Korenman as Director of his newest school. Korenman was born in Russia, and he attended school there before emigrating to the U.S. and Manhattan, Kansas. He attended Kansas State University, where he eventually obtained a Doctor of Philosophy. He organized a number of prestigious tournaments and matches. These included the famous Karpov vs. Polgar "Clash of the Titans" match, Final Four Collegiate Chess Championship, U.S. Junior Open, U.S. Junior Invitational, Pan American Collegiate Championship, Kansas Open, and several international and scholastic tournaments. He was named Organizer of the Year, in 2004, by the U.S. Chess Federation, and Lindsborg was named Chess City of the Year. Dr. Korenman, in conjunction with the Lindsborg USD 400 School District, established chess as a "for credit" class in the Lindsborg schools, a first in the State of Kansas. Chess classes will also be offered on the Internet as part of Lindsborg's new "Virtual School." In January 2006, Dr. Korenman and INTECS moved to Chicago, Illinois. On January 23, 2006, the International Chess Institute of the Midwest (ICIM) was incorporated exclusively for educational purposes and is a not for profit Kansas corporation. ICIM did business as the World Champion Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess in Lindsborg, Kansas until 2022.