Brooklyn Castle is a documentary about I.S. 318 ÔÇô an inner-city school where more than 65 percent of students are from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level ÔÇô that also happens to have the best, most winning junior high school chess team in the country. (If Albert Einstein, who was rated 1800, were to join the team, heÔÇÖd only rank fifth best.) Chess has transformed the school from one cited in 2003 as a ÔÇ£school in need of improvementÔÇØ to one of New York CityÔÇÖs best. But a series of recession-driven public school budget cuts now threaten to undermine those hard-won successes.
