Transcripts For KPIX 60 Minutes 20170619

Identity . In this era of globalization, citizenship and passports for caribbean islands like this one have become just another commodity to be bought and sold. How much does it cost to get a citizenship . 100,000. Do you have to come and live in dominica . No, no. You dont even have to come to dominica to get the citizenship. You pay the money from wherever you are. Sort of mailorder citizenship . Sort of. Something like that. Until a couple summers ago, the ancient game of chess was still mostly a mystery for the folks of rural Franklin County, mississippi. Whats this called . So imagine everyones surprise when a tall stranger arrived from memphis to bring chess to the country. I was like, what . Why would somebody come down here . Two years later, a chess boom is under way in the unlikeliest of places. People said that country kids couldnt learn chess. And . We showed em different. We proved them wrong. We proved em wrong. Im steve kroft. Im lesley stahl. Im bill whitaker. Im anderson cooper. Im sharyn alfonsi. Im scott pelley. Those stories, tonight on 60 minutes. Cbs money watch update sponsored by lincoln financial. Youre in charge. Reporter good evening. Britain begins talks monday on leaving the european union. Fedex, car max and blackberry are among the Companies Reporting earnings this week, and dairy workers marched to a ben jerrys Ice Cream Factory in vermont saturday, asking for better pay. Im demarco morgan, cbs news. My, what big rims you have. My, what bright eyes you have. [beep beep] all the better to tease you with, my dear. That was good. Where to . Gee gees. Get ready to spin your own tale. Introducing an allnew crossover. Toyota chr. Toyota. Lets go places. Hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. The microsoft cloud helps the pga tour turn countless points of data into insights that transform their business and will enhance the game for players and fans. The microsoft cloud turns information into insight. At haagendazs, we believe through passion and perseverance the simplest things. Become extraordinary. Itthe power of nexium 24hr protection from frequent heartburn. All day, and all night. Now packed into a pill so small, we call it mini. New clearminis from nexium 24hr. See heartburn differently. Pelley a great city that once held more than two Million People fell to Syrian Government forces after five years of siege and starvation. Aleppo was the center of the rebellion against the syrian dictatorship of bashar al assad, when our story first aired in december, assad and his russian ally had just intensified their air strikes against aleppos dense neighborhoods. For civilians under this bombardment, the greatest fear is to be buried alive, to suffocate or bleed to death in the rubble of their own home. Their only hope is the syrian Civil Defense, a selfappointed allsyrian volunteer force of rescue workers, who call themselves the White Helmets. The air strikes, day and night, obliterate apartments and shatter the nerves. Often, the bombs are not aimed at military targets; theyre not aimed at all just a barrel of shrapnel and t. N. T. , heaved from a helicopter onto any neighborhood the assad dictatorship does not control. Rami jarrah its to terrorize people in this area. Its to tell these people that youre not welcome here, and we want you out. Pelley rami jarrah is a syrian reporter, whos followed the White Helmets from their makeshift beginnings to todays trained force of 3,000 rescue workers. Jarrah they provide some sort of security or safety, or some sort of hope to civilians that live in this area, that even if you are attacked, even if your building comes down, there is someone thats going to come and save you. Pelley you are not alone. Jarrah youre not alone, yes. Pelley this little boy was alone, and nearly invisible, when the White Helmets happened to spot just his hair in the pulverized concrete of his home. Bare hands were in a race with suffocation. Jarrah i think, for them, its luck. Its that. That they dig any rubble that they see to get those people out. They frantically dig through every part of any Apartment Building or anything thats been. Been destroyed to check. Theyre usually there for hours after the attack. Pelley how many hours . Jarrah how many hours . Six, seven hours. Ive seen them operate continuously. Pelley this is that same boy, his face freed. They excavated the ruin, hour by hour. The White Helmets say they have saved 90,000. And, with each, they shout their gratitude to god. Majd khalaf and rady saad have been White Helmets three years. Khalaf said, we feel as if weve brought that person back to life. The joy at that moment is indescribable. Tell me about the hardest rescue youve ever done. There was a woman and her husband, he told us. Only four of her fingers were sticking out of the rubble. We could see her moving her fingers like this, so my colleagues dug her out. And the first thing she asked about was her husband. Theyd been married for ten days. Unfortunately, her husband had been killed. Fingers or, here, the leg of a boy are clues in a chaos of concrete. The leg led to hips and a torso. Body parts are expected. But then, they uncover a face. More often than anyone could expect, life is resurrected from a shallow grave. When you uncover one of these faces covered with dust and the eyes open, what is that moment like for you . Rady saad told us, i dont have any feelings, i have a goal. The goal is to save the most people in the least amount of time. But when i go home, ive spent nights crying, really crying. Day after day, building after building, hour after hour, victim after victim, how do you keep going . There are a lot of people who need our help, he said. Theres a 50 chance in every operation that ill live and 50 chance that ill die. But in the end, ive left my mark. Ive left children who are going to live and complete our future. Rady saad calculates his odds at 50 50 because the White Helmets themselves are targets of the assad regime. Jarrah the plane doesnt attack once. It usually attacks twice or three times. So, the Civil Defense are able to actually continue doing their work, even understanding that that plane is waiting for people to gather up because it wants to come back and attack when theres a large crowd of people. Pelley the White Helmets call that second bomb run, the one aimed at them, a double tap. And it happened during this rescue in aleppo. Raed saleh wears the loss of his men and his country. He once owned an electronics business. The White Helmets in more than 100 towns elected him their leader. How many of your people have you lost . He told us a white helmet had been killed that morning, and as of last week, saleh has lost more than 190 volunteers. How did the White Helmets begin . After several bombings, he said, there were individual initiatives by regular people tailors, blacksmiths, carpenters, university students, doctors; people from different backgrounds, who formed teams to respond to emergencies in a more organized fashion. After that, there was communication with outside organizations who began to train these teams. This is the training, in a country we agreed not to name. Elite disaster teams from other nations teach the use of microphones to sense vibrations, and cameras to peer into crevices. The United States chipped in 29 million for this, about a quarter of the White Helmets budget. This home was blasted into a familys tomb. The only thing escaping was one faint voice. A white helmet, searching, calls out, brother, can you see our light . The voice replies, somethings on my back. Hes right. Its the roof. But for an inch, the 16yearold boy would be dead. Youre looking at him right there, face down. This is his shoulder and his right arm, already in a cast. No architects calculation of blast loading or lateral resistance can explain the simple miracles of survival. After seven hours, it appears the boy emerged an orphan and only child. Everyone else in the house was dead. Hadi alabdullah is a syrian journalist who posts stories of the White Helmets on youtube. If there is meaning to the word courage, he said, it is represented by the Civil Defense. Abdullahs stories caught the disapproving notice of the assad dictatorship, and last june, the door of his Apartment Building was connected to a bomb. Without me hearing any explosion, he said, there was stone and steel on top of me, and i couldnt move any of my limbs. Rescue workers hed covered came to uncover him. When i heard the sound of the Civil Defense bulldozer, i started to feel some hope that i might live. Slowly, the stone started to be removed, rock by rock. All of the weight started to lessen. Just hearing their voices gave you hope that you would live . Exactly, he said. I was able to breathe, to hear their voices. It was difficult to open my eyes, but i opened them a little and saw them wearing their White Helmets. I was so happy that i was out of the rubble. They said you were going to die, and then you returned to life. Abdullah endured more than half a dozen surgeries, then returned to syria in a wheelchair to continue his reporting. In turkey, we visited this clinic for syrian amputees, and you find most everyone owes their life to the White Helmets. Was your leg completely severed . Yes, he told us. When the Civil Defense came, they tied my leg for me from here, with a cord. They tied a tourniquet around your leg. Then they put us on stretchers and took us to the field hospital. They didnt leave me there to bleed to death, she said. I would be in heaven if not for the Civil Defense. It seems, in every rescue, there are children. This man flailed for freedom, and just below him a childs head, inches this side of the living. This woman told us her entire family was buried, and she was rescued first. I didnt expect my son would survive, she told us. He was only ten days old. But after 16 hours of labor, her baby was brought into the world, a second time. Everyone told me that hes a miracle child. It really is a miracle. Three years later, her son is all she has. Her husband and daughter are dead. The man who saved her boy, 31 yearold khaled harrah, was later killed in a double tap. He had two children, and another on the way. The White Helmets respond to an average of 35 attacks a day. Fighting for life in a vicious war, they were nominated last year for the nobel peace prize. Syria has descended into murder on an industrial scale, but, on the outer limits of cruelty, humanity begins. The White Helmets dont just wear helmets. The women of the White Helmets on 60minutesovertime. Com she packed my bags last night preflight zero hour nine am and im gonna be high as a kite by then and i think its gonna be a long long time till touch down brings me round again to find im not the man they think i am at home oh no no no im a rocket man rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone yonow invest in your profile. Diminish the double chin with kybella. Kybella is the only injectable treatment for adults that permanently destroys fat cells under the chin. To reduce moderate to severe fullness, for a gradually improved chin profile. Dont receive kybella if you have an infection in the treatment area. Kybella can cause nerve injury in the jaw resulting in an uneven smile or facial muscle weakness and trouble swallowing. Tell your doctor about all medical conditions. Including if you have had or plan to have surgery or cosmetic treatments on your face, neck or chin,. Have had or have medical conditions in or near your neck, or have bleeding problems tell your doctor about all medicines you take. The most common side effects are swelling, bruising, pain, numbness, redness and areas of hardness in the treatment area. Diminish the double chin. Improve your profile. Find a specialist at mykybella. Com sorry about the holdup, folks. We have some congestion on the runway and im being told itll be another 15, maybe 20 minutes, and we will have you on your way. Runway models on the runway . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money evan saved by switching to geico. I would not wear that lace. Hmm, i dont know . Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Theres nothing more than my vacation. Me so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. They offer free cancellation if my plans change. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah. Hi. Oh, hi welcome to the neighborhood. I brought you this pie to see if youre weird. Wow, that smells intrusive. It is. Did you want to come in, maybe snoop around a bit . Thats why im here. Wouldnt it be great if everyone said what they meant . Ooh, i smell onions the citi® double cash card does. Only citi lets you earn 1 cash back when you buy, and 1 as you pay. The citi double cash card. Double means double. Kroft if you have been thinking about leaving the United States, moving to another country and changing your nationality, its never been easier to do. In this era of globalization, citizenship and passports have become just another commodity to be bought and sold on the international market. All you need is money and a willingness to contribute a few hundred thousand dollars to the treasury of a cashstarved country, or acquire a piece of real estate there. Its called citizenship by investment, and as we first reported in january, its become a 2 billion industry, built around people looking for a change of scenery or a change of passport, a new life or maybe a new identity, a getaway from the rat race or perhaps an escape from an exspouse or interpol. In any event, its brought in huge amounts of revenue for the sellers, and attracted among the buyers a rogues gallery of scoundrels, fugitives, tax cheats and possibly much worse. If youre shopping for another passport, the top of the line right now is malta. By investing 1 million in this mediterranean island, a russian or chinese or a saudi can become a european citizen with a new e. U. Passport that will allow them to travel just about anywhere without a visa. There are also much cheaper, less discriminating alternatives available in the caribbean, especially on the tiny island of dominica, where Lennox Linton is a member of parliament. How much does it cost to get a citizenship . Lennox linton 100,000. Kroft do you have to come and live in dominica . Linton no. No. You dont even have to come to dominica to get the citizenship. You pay the money from wherever you are. Kroft sort of just mail order citizenship . Linton sort of. Something like that. O this world of citizenship by investment came in dubai, the gleaming, International Bazaar that was hosting the ninth annual Global Citizenship conference. Gathered here were government officials, lawyers, bankers and Real Estate Developers who facilitate and profit from the trade of citizenship for cash. Chris kalin good evening, and a very warm welcome. Kroft this is the man who more or less invented the business chris kalin, chairman of henley and partners, a Consulting Firm with offices where else but in zurich, switzerland. For a fee and healthy commissions, kalin helps countries set up their program, rewrite their citizenship laws and recruit people of means looking for a second, third or fourth passport, which he sees as just another travel accessory, a passport of convenience. Kalin you probably have more than one credit card, i would assume. And, you know, if visa doesnt work, mastercard will do. So, i think any wealthy person nowadays should have more than one credit card. And likewise, youd have more than one passport. Kroft but you need to have some money to do this . Kalin yes. Kroft to be able to do this . Kalin yes, absolutely. Its just for wealthy people, of course. Yeah. Kroft quite often, these wealthy customers come from politically problematic countries where their passports dont work very well, making it difficult for them to get where they want to go. Global citizens Like International lawyer sirous motevassel, a middle easterner from iran who travels on a west Indian Passport from st. Kitts and nevis. And where do you live . Sirous motevassel im living in dubai, united arab emirates. Kroft so, youre an iranian living in dubai with st. Kitts citizenship. Motevassel yes. Yeah. Kroft thats complicated. Motevassel laughs yeah, it. Yeah. This is the life. Kroft its the life because motevassels st. Kitts passport, available for 250,000 or a 400,000 real estate investment, allows him entry to more than 100 countries without having to get special permission. Its a legal way to circumvent visa controls that nations set up to screen people coming into their country. But its also an opportunity for shady characters to mask their true identity and avoid suspicion as they travel around the globe. The business was born here in st. Kitts, when chris kalin struck a deal with the government a decade ago following the collapse of the islands sugar industry. Since then, passports have become its major export, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in income. In fact, in 2014, the last year for which there are government statistics available, 40 of the governments revenue came from selling passports. Its provided st. Kitts and nevis with hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure projects, private development and tourism, but a lot of the money is unaccounted for. More than 10,000 people have purchased citizenship here, but its almost impossible to tell who they are because the information is not public. Chris kalin doesnt like the words citizenship for cash, or any suggestion that all you need is money to get a passport. Kalin you have to go through a process. You have to apply. And you have to answer a million questions. And you have to undergo a background verification. And you have, at least in the properlyrun programs, you have to be a reputable person. And thats checked. Kroft but evidently, not that carefully. About the only way to identify people who have purchased st. Kitts citizenship is if theyve happened to turn up on a list of international fugitives, or gotten in trouble with the law, and st. Kitts nevis has had more than its share for two sleepy, little islands. Its passport holders have included a canadian penny stock manipulator, a russian wanted for bribery, a kazak wanted for embezzlement, two ukrainians suspected of bribing a u. N. Official, and two Chinese Women wanted for financial crimes. Kalin i think its no secret that these islands have made decisions that are not always optimal. Kroft theyve taken some bozos, as you would call them . Kalin yes, exactly. Kroft what about crooks . Kalin yes. It goes all the way down to crooks, yeah, absolutely. And it tended for some time to attract quite a few people that i would never let into the country, but im not the government of st. Kitts and nevis. Kroft but you set up their program. Kalin we helped to set up the program. But, you know, as it is, advisors advise, ministers decide. Kroft the island nation drew the ire of the u. S. Treasury Department Three years ago, after three suspected iranian operatives were caught using their st. Kitts passports to launder money for banks in tehran in violation of u. S. Sanctions. It also had to recall more than 5,000 passports because they either didnt include a place of birth or were issued to people who had changed their names. Since then, a number of reforms have been made, but questions remain. Peter vincent theyre not transparent programs. There are not safeguards in place. Kroft until 2014, Peter Vincent was the top Legal Advisor for u. S. Immigration and customs enforcement, part of the department of homeland security, which he says is well aware of all the vulnerabilities. In fact, before general john f. Kelly became secretary of the department of homeland security, he expressed concern in a 2015 report that cash for passport programs could be exploited by criminals, terrorists or other nefarious actors. Does that present a security threat, do you think . Vincent it does. In my opinion, the Global Community has established a very effective Global Security architecture to prevent terrorist attacks. I see these cash for citizenship programs as a gaping hole in that security architecture. Kroft but its not stopped the programs from multiplying across the caribbean; dominica, grenada, st. Lucia and antigua are all competing with st. Kitts now for customers and badly needed cash. Gaston browne so, what are we supposed to do . Sit back and do nothing . You tell me. Kroft gaston browne, the Prime Minister of antigua and barbuda, says the revenue from its fouryearold program has kept the government from defaulting on its International Loans and has turned the economy around. Antigua also claims to have among the strictest programs in the caribbean. You actually have to show up here to get citizenship, albeit very briefly. Browne our law provides them to spend at least five days here. Kroft that sounds like a vacation. Browne yes. I i understand. But, however, we have made sure that at least there must be some face to face contact so we know who these people are. Kroft for five days. Browne minimum. Kroft what kind of people are you looking for . Browne were looking for High Net Worth individuals, people who are established businesspeople, who are well known, and to make sure that we get the creme de la creme. Kroft if so, they are recruiting them in some odd places. Last summer, antigua announced it was opening an embassy in baghdad, hoping to sell passports to iraqis. It didnt work out, but its doing better next door in syria after hiring a relative of president Bashar Alassad to represent them. Have you had any applications from syria . Browne yes. We have had applications from syria. Kroft and youve approved them. Browne syria is one of the areas in which we have had some concerns, but did not place it on a restricted list. Kroft Prime Minister browne told us instability breeds opportunity. Besides syria, antigua has sold citizenship to iranians, libyans, pakistanis and the people who bought condos in this halfbuilt complex in the desert outside dubai, 7,300 miles away from antigua. Its website advertised, buy a villa in the u. A. E. And get citizenship of antigua. I mean, you said that you were looking for the creme de la creme. Browne creme de la creme. Kroft i mean, theres a developer in dubai browne yes. Kroft sweet homes. Browne yes. Kroft who is advertising that hes giving away passports to anyone who buys a condominium there. Browne you dont believe that, right . Kroft like, you open a bank account, you get a free toaster. Browne that is not so. Kroft browne dismissed the sweet homes ads as advertising hype, saying the citizenship is not free or guaranteed; somebody has to come up with the 250,000 for antigua, and condo buyers must pass a background check. Browne you have to go through all of the Due Diligence. Kroft what kind of Due Diligence do you do . Browne well, and that is where the crux of the matter lies. Kroft the Prime Minister claimed that the names of all applicants for antiguan citizenship are screened by american intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies, and generally speaking, Due Diligence in the caribbean has improved substantially since the scandals in st. Kitts. The small island offices with a few people are now backed up by International Firms that take the screening to a higher level. But ultimately its up to each country to decide who gets a passport, and the caribbean has a rich history of turning a blind eye to official corruption. Its affected the way passports are handed out, especially diplomatic passports that entitle the bearer to all sorts of special privileges, which Peter Vincent says represents a much more serious security threat. Vincent the border officials at the receiving country, even without a visa, almost always admit an individual carrying a diplomatic passport. In addition, Border Forces are not entitled to search the luggage of diplomats like they are for regular tourists. They simply wave them through. Kroft the sale of diplomatic passports is not part of the citizenship by investment program, but its gone on under the table, according to u. S. Authorities, particularly in dominica, which has had a lot of dodgy diplomats. Linton we had a diplomatic passport in the hands of francesco corallo, who, at the time, was on interpols list of mostwanted criminals. Kroft Lennox Linton, who heads the opposition in parliament, says no one in dominica had ever heard of corallo until he was stopped by authorities in italy. Linton he said, you cant detain me, im a diplomat. They said, diplomat . Diplomat of where . He said, dominica. Kroft then, theres dominican diplomat alison madueke, a former Nigerian Oil Minister charged with bribery and money laundering. And rudolph king, a bahamian fugitive from u. S. Justice, who presented himself as dominicas special envoy to bahrain. Linton what we were doing with an ambassador in bahrain, i dont quite know, but they seem to think that there was some benefit in there for us. Kroft i assume that youve asked the Prime Minister. Linton yes. Kroft . How he ended up appointing these people, diplomats. Linton yes. Kroft and what was the answer . Linton the Prime Minister doesnt answer those questions. Kroft with vast sums of money flowing into these island nations, and more and more countries selling their citizenship, there is consensus that still more oversight and transparency is needed. But privacy and secrecy have always been a major selling point for people buying multiple passports, including chris kalin, the man who invented the business plan. How many do you have . Kalin i have multiple. laughs kroft so, you dont want to tell us how many you have . Kalin theres a few things in my life that. That i dont talk openly about and i keep for myself. But i am swiss originally, and many people think im very swiss. And so, ill leave it at that. Kroft our report in january sparked a flurry of reaction in the caribbean. In dominica, there were riots demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit for his handling of diplomatic passports. He denies any improprieties. The st. Kitts government deactivated more than 15,000 passports, including 91 diplomatic passports. And antiguas program, singled out by the u. S. State department as among the most lax in the world, has also recalled many of its diplomatic passports. This cbs sports update is presented by the lincoln motor company. Hello, everyone. Im adam zuker in our new york studio. In nba draft news, the 76ers will now have the numberone overall pick after a reported trade with boston. Theyre expected to draft Markelle Fultz monday night. And the major league baseball, the rockies stayed atop the n. L. West. And the indians extend their league in the a. L. Central. For more sports go to cbssports. Com. For more sports go to cbssports. Com. Happy fathers day. You may never even sit in the back seat. Yeah, but maybe you should. laughter i needed something more to help control my type 2 diabetes. My a1c wasnt were it needed to be. So i liked when my doctor told me that i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating whats within me with onceweekly trulicity. Trulicity is not insulin. It helps activate my body to do what its suppose to do, release its own insulin. I take it once a week, and it works 24 7. It comes in an easytouse pen and i may even lose a little weight. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. Trulicity is not insulin. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take trulicity if you or a Family Member has had medullary thyroid cancer, if youve had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to trulicity. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, severe pain in your stomach, or symptoms such as itching, rash, or trouble breathing. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis, which can be fatal. Taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin, increases your risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite and indigestion. Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may make existing kidney problems worse. Onceweekly trulicity may help me reach my blood sugar goals. With trulicity, i click to activate whats within me. If you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar, activate your within. Ask your doctor about onceweekly trulicity. Fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. Got any ideas . Ting you . Not all products work the same. My owner gives me k9 advantix ii. It kills all three through contact. No biting required. So they dont have to bite . Thats right. No biting required. K9 advantix ii. Wise choice. Sharyn alfonsi chess has been around for 1,500 years, but until a couple of summers ago, the ancient game was still mostly a mystery to the folks of rural Franklin County, mississippi. Few had ever played chess before; many confused it with checkers. A chess board was as outof place in the county as a skyscraper. But, as we first reported in march, that all changed when a tall stranger arrived from memphis to bring chess to the country, with a belief that the game could transform a community. He was initially met with bewilderment. Who was this sixfootsix outsider, and why would anyone come to Franklin County to teach chess . Two years later, a chess boom is underway in the unlikeliest of places. Tucked deep in the Southwest Corner of mississippi lies remote Franklin County, where the trains dont stop any more. Half the county is covered by a National Forest the other half, it seems, by churches. Hallelujah alfonsi this is the buckle of the bible belt. 7,000 people live here, and no ones in a hurry. There are only two stop lights in the entire county, and one Elementary School. Jeff bulington whats this called . Alfonsi so imagine everyones surprise when dr. Jeff bulington showed up at school to teach the kids of Franklin County a new subject chess. Bulington so, everybody say, checkmate. Checkmate. Alfonsi before dr. B. Came to town, had you played chess before . Braden i didnt have a clue how to move the pieces or nothing. Donovan only time i saw it was on tv. Alfonsi donovan moore, Braden Ferrell, parker wilkinson, and Benson Schexnaydre didnt know what to make of dr. B. , as he is known, when he first appeared in 2015. What did you think of dr. B. When you first met him . Benson this 12foot man. Alfonsi the 12foot man. Parker whenever he came into the room saying he was planning on teaching us chess, i was like, what . Why would somebody come down here . Alfonsi in the middle of nowhere. Youre a logical guy, and it doesnt seem to make a lot of sense. Bulington if there are people there, its not nowhere. This is somewhere. Its just a somewhere that doesnt get a lot of attention. Alfonsi Jeff Bulington was lured to Franklin County by a wealthy benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous. The benefactor had seen how bulington had molded chess champions in memphis, in one of the most distressed zip codes in america, and wondered if chess could take hold in the country. Bulington where can you put the king . Alfonsi he convinced bulington to give a few demonstration lessons in Franklin County. Bulington does that stop him from coming here . Afterwards, i was asked, so, hey, what do you think . Do you think this, these kids have it . Could you have a Chess Program here . And i was, yeah, of course. Theyre as smart as any other kids ive ever met. Alfonsi motivated by the challenge, bulington signed a tenyear contract with the benefactor and left the city for the country. Bulington what is he doing . Hes xraying the king. Alfonsi bulington has taught chess for the better part of 25 years. Bulington whats so wonderful about the bishop, and why might we think of it as an archer . Alfonsi he may not be a grand master, but hes a master of using chess to tell a narrative, especially with beginners. Bulington this is a story about a little girl, and the stranger and the little girls daddy. Elizabeth and the stranger is just my adaptation of little Red Riding Hood to the chess board. Elizabeth needs to get down here to e1 where school is, where she can be safe. It involves just simply teaching how a pawn moves and a king moves. Oh, no is she going to make it . Ricky i told you this was a bad idea bulington i remember my partner in this project saying to me, wed have maybe 12 kids playing chess. He didnt know what to expect. Alfonsi and how many kids do you have playing chess right now . Bulington well, a couple hundred. Alfonsi students flock to bulington, in part, because at heart hes one of them. He grew up in rural indiana and identifies with kids who have to feed the chickens, count tarantulas as pets and have different tastes in food. What do you like to eat . Parker fried rattlesnake. Alfonsi fried rattlesnake. Parker if you got to my house, if we ever find a rattlesnake in a course of like a week or so, youre getting some fried rattlesnake. Alfonsi bulingtons opened up a new world to his kids. Bulington check. This is a famous game by morphy against count isowarde and duke of brunswick. Its played in paris. This is paris. Bobby poole we teach history. We teach geography. We teach science. We teach math. We teach it all using the chess board. Alfonsi bobby poole is a parttime preacher and a full Time Assistant chess coach for bulington. Poole says there were doubts that bulington could succeed in mississippi. Poole all the statistics, everything you look at, mississippi is the poorest. Its the dumbest. Its the fattest. We know that the rest of the nation has that conception of us. Parker people said that country kids couldnt learn chess. Alfonsi and . Parker we showed em different. Benson we proved them wrong. We proved em wrong. Alfonsi proof came last year in starkville, where bulingtons team of mostly Elementary School kids from Franklin County faced off against much older High School Players at the Mississippi State championships. Rebekah griffin was in the fifth grade. What was their reaction when they saw you, a little fifth grader, sitting across the table from them . Rebekah one of them started bragging to their friends about how he got easy pickings. Alfonsi is that a little scary, playing somebody who looked that much older than you . Rebekah i didnt really think about it until somebody told me, you played a guy with a beard . Alfonsi you guys roll in, and they say, who are these kids, right . Braden they were basically, like, trying to say we were a joke cause we were kids. But after the game, we usually beat em, and they were, like, very shocked. Alfonsi dont you guys feel bad you beat all those older kids . Braden never. Parker no. I dont want that to make me seem like a cruel person, but im, i really am just okay with crushing peoples spirits. Alfonsi in the end, Franklin County dominated the state championships. Mitch ham what happened is, a bunch of hillbillies beat the snot out of a bunch of really highly educated, sophisticated people. So thats what happened. Alfonsi mitch ham was among the many parents in starkville. He thinks the victories served as a milestone for Franklin Countys kids. Ham that was very sobering for them, to suddenly realize, wow, we are good. So them having the realization of their own potential was a beautiful moment. Alfonsi how did the teachers, the other teachers, react . Bulington over the course of my career in teaching chess, people say things like, i did not know that he could do Something Like that, or even something as simple and as crass as, i did not know he was smart, or she was smart, or Something Like that. Alfonsi what does that tell you . Bulington it tells me some people got it wrong, that some kids have been underestimated or written off for reasons that are false. Alfonsi chess has helped bulingtons players see theres more to themselves than theyve seen before. Parker chess is, like, something that, like, im, like, really good at, for once. Alfonsi has it changed you at all . Donovan it has. My grades have gone up. Alfonsi your grades have gone up . Donovan all my grades used to be, like, low, mediumlow bs. Now, theyre as and high bs. Rebekah i feel like chess could take us anywhere. But its not about where it takes us, its about how far it takes us. Alfonsi last year, only seven of the 93 graduates from Franklin County high school went on to a fouryear college, but every chess player we spoke to plans to attend college some day. Jennifer rutland its really shocked me, how far hes came. Alfonsi Jennifer Rutland is bradens mom. She runs the first and main cafe, one of the few places in the county that serves a hot meal. She believes her son wont be flipping burgers for a living. Is it fun to see your kids dream a little bigger than the county line . Rutland yes. Yes. So big that its almost like, braden, come on, get real. You know, it just gets so big. Ham you always want to see your kids go further. And i think chess can be a vehicle to take them there, you know . This gives them a window at a young age, that, hey, theres a whole world out there. I dont need to set my goals at making 8 an hour, i need to set my goals at whatever i want them to be. Alfonsi chess has filled a social void and given main street a pulse. In october, a new chess center opened in the middle of meadville, the county seat. Do you feel like chess has made the community more hopeful . Bulington certainly parts of it, yeah, right. I mean, this flower hasnt bloomed yet. Its just starting to, right . Theres a lot yet to come. Alfonsi the chess center has become like a beacon in the county. Each day after school, kids who have the desire and aptitude receive more instruction from bulington. Bulington so, what does black do . Alfonsi theyve become so immersed in the game, with its infinite number of possible moves, that when these students finish playing chess, they go home, and play more chess. Can the best chess player in the world come from Franklin County . Benson maybe. Braden absolutely. Parker absolutely. Benson its super possible. Alfonsi before they could take on the world, they would have to face the nation. Bulington well take care of them. Alfonsi the week before christmas, 33 of Franklin Countys chess wonders and their parents gathered in the School Parking lot. Yall are coming back right . Alfonsi . To begin a ten hour journey to nashville, for their biggest test yet the national championships. Bulington queen g7, excellent. Alfonsi as day turned into night, bulington and his students were lost in what they call the chess dimension. Austen johnson where are we . Bulington well, i dont know where we are. Were in the middle of problem nine. Thats all i know. Alfonsi preparing, in their own language. Bulington knight d4 attacking the queen, and threatening. The queen takes h3, check. Alfonsi . For what lay ahead a weekend of intense chess. More than 1,500 players from 644 schools gathered in a giant ballroom at opryland. Please shake your opponents hand. Alfonsi for seven rounds of chess, over three days. Every grade, k through 12, was vying for a national title. The best teams come from the best schools in new york city. And, two hours into the tournament, it appeared as if little Franklin County was overmatched. After round one, the kids from mississippi had lost 30 of their first 32 games. Bulington you know, its a real struggle and theyre going to learn to struggle at this level. And theyre learning that they have to struggle at a different level than they ever have before. Alfonsi whats the feeling when you walk in here as a player, as a coach, as a parent . Bulington its a deep agonistic experience, right . Alfonsi deep agonistic experience . Bulington yeah, its real, true competition, based on skill alone, right . And you look around and you can see it in the parents faces as much as the kids, that theres something significant at stake here. Alfonsi nervous parents from other programs tried to sneak a closer peek into the ballroom, desperate for any news. After their shaky start, Franklin Countys players bore down. Taking more time, probing for openings, watching for threats. A bulington mantra played in their heads let your opponent show you how theyd like to lose. Bulington today is the last day, its the hardest day. Alfonsi by sunday, with the final two rounds looming, Franklin Countys fifth and sixth graders were hovering near the top ten. Bulington Everybody Needs to fight for those points today. We need them very much. Alfonsi parker wilkinson, Braden Ferrell and Benson Schexnaydre all delivered for Franklin County. That left donovan moore, who was mired in a twoandahalf hour struggle against a higherrated opponent from kentucky. On the verge of victory, donovan was asked for a draw. He said no. His opponent snapped, the tension of the event bursting to the surface. Donovan moore eventually won, boosting Franklin Countys fifth graders to number eight in the country. Making their debut to the stage, Franklin County upper elementary. Alfonsi the sixth graders placed tenth, two grades in the nations top ten, only a year and a half after Jeff Bulington first showed up to introduce chess to a small county in mississippi. Parker one thing that i dont think i say enough is thank you. Benson i was thinking the same thing. Parker for teaching us all this. Alfonsi what are they capable of . Bulington somewhere in the top three at least. Alfonsi you think you can stick it out for eight more years in Franklin County . Bulington i wont even think of it as sticking it out. Alfonsi what do you think of it as . Bulington i think of it as, doing what i want to do, being in a place i like to be. What if technology gave us the power to turn this enemy into an ally . Microsoft and its partners are using smart traps to capture mosquitoes and sequence their dna to fight disease. There are over 100 million pieces of dna in every sample. With the microsoft cloud, we can analyze the data faster than ever before. If we can detect new viruses before they spread, we may someday prevent outbreaks before they begin. All umm. Ed. You wouldnt want your painter to quit part way, i think you missed a spot. So when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day . Aleve, live whole not part. You want this color over the whole house . Twenty years from now. You will be more disappointed. By the things you didnt do. Than by the ones you did do. [beep, beep, beep, beep] [tires screech] wooo so throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Corolla with Toyota Safety sense standard. Toyota. Lets go places. Honey, you need Sun Protection mooooom. If you want to be a champion like Lightning Mcqueen. Go lightning go Lightning Mcqueen help protect your future champions with coppertone kids. See Disney Pixars cars 3 now in 3d. Kroft im steve kroft. Well be back next week with another edition of 60 minutes. Tomorrow, be sure to watch cbs this morning. Captioning funded by cbs and ford. We go further, so you can. Captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org at fidelity, trades are now just 4. 95. We cut the price of trades to give investors even more value. And at 4. 95, you can trade with a clear advantage. Fidelity, where smarter investors will always be. Will you be ready when the moment turns romantic . Cialis for daily use treats ed and the urinary symptoms of bph. Tell your doctor about your medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension, as this may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. To avoid longterm injury, get medical help right away for an erection lasting more than four hours. If you have a sudden decrease or loss of hearing or vision, or an allergic reaction, stop taking cialis and get medical help right away. Ask your doctor about cialis. Fleas, ticks and mosquitoes. Got any ideas . Ting you . And get medical help right away. Not all products work the same. My owner gives me k9 advantix ii. It kills all three through contact. No biting required. So they dont have to bite . Thats right. No biting required. K9 advantix ii. Wise choice. Stop grunting stop freeze stop hands in the air. Turn around, slowly grunts grunts