Alexey W. Root was the 1989 U.S. Women's Chess Champion and is a Woman International Master. She has a Ph.D. in education from UCLA and is the author of five previous books on chess in education. Thinking with Chess: Teaching Children Ages 5-14 is her first book for Mongoose Press. Dr. Root is a senior lecturer in the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas). From 1999 to 2003, she served as associate director of the UT Dallas Chess Program, home to one of the top college chess teams in the world. Root currently teaches Chess Online courses for college credit via UT Dallas eLearning. She lives in Denton, Texas.