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NASA Holding Space Vs. Earth Chess Game
A few days ago, NASA and the US Chess Federation teamed up to host a space vs. Earth chess game. Astronaut Greg Chamitoff is playing one side, while the other side's moves will be determined by a public vote. Four potential moves will be selected each weekday by a chess club comprised of students from kindergarten through third grade. Once the selections are made, visitors to the USCF's site can vote for the move they like best. The USCF is maintaining a blog to update the moves and board position, and to provide commentary.
The kids are the team that won "this year's Kindergarten through Third Grade National Championship." The commentary on the US Chess site mentions that the kids favor "classical patterns" - I'd guess part of their training involves learning many of the well-known scenarios and techniques.
Also given the timescales involved (the vote's open for a week, the station crew member is aiming for a minimum of about 1 move/week on his end), the kids likely have a chance to think it through and discuss - it's not like they have to come up with 4 moves constrained by a 2-hour speedchess match clock.
The crew of Soyuz 9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_9 played chess with the ground in 1970. They had a zero-g chess board that the pieces could clip on to.