Chess and Scrabble are bringing people together as Mind Sports Manitoba (MSM) aims to help people learn and connect over the love of games.

Steve Udarbe, the founder and director of Mind Sports Manitoba shares how he has turned his passion into a nonprofit that helps kids and adults learn about chess and other "mind sports."

MSM is a nonprofit organization that promotes mind sports like chess, scrabble, and other well known skill-based games.

"A lot of kids and people now are more oriented to technology ... and sometimes they miss how to interact with other people," says Udarbe as he explains one of his goals for the nonprofit to be helping kids learn to connect and think critically.

Udarbe organizes tournaments and sponsors throughout the year.

"It is my frustration and passion," says Udarbe who wanted to become a mind sports master but was expected to go to school and had to put his passion on hold.

With MSM, Udarbe gets to practice his gifts and share his passion with people of all ages.

"We concentrate on chess and scrabble as they are very universal," that is what the organization is now focused on in tournaments and in their weekly Wednesday night meetings at Sinclair Park Community Centre.

"Our dream is to have more young players that is why we are doing more free teaching of these games in schools." Udarbe is currently teaching at St Edwards Community school to encourage more kids to try their hand at these games.