Last month my son attended his first chess club meeting; chess club meets for an hour before school on Friday mornings. That was his first, and up until today only, chess club meeting. They went over the names of the chess pieces and the allowed moves. That weekend my son and I played chess and I was surprised at how quickly he picked it up. The second week of chess club the instructor was double-booked so there was no meeting. The third week the instructor was MIA so there was no meeting. Last night the new instructor, Coach Leo, called to confirm that yes he would be there this morning. Sure enough, Coach Leo was the first person on the scene. Alexander is now attending his second chess club meeting.
In these past few weeks we’ve been playing chess,both over our LAN and with the actual board. He gets a little obsessive with the pieces on the board and will kind of zone out as he lines up the pieces he’s captured so LAN play is a bit more productive. I am obviously worse than I remember and he’s better than I gave him credit for – if I don’t pay attention he’ll beat me. Our first LAN game ended in a draw. I barely beat him the next two games and that was with me playing to the best of my ability. I love how he’s fine when he loses a strategy game like chess. Last year we were playing the game “Sorry” and as he realized he was losing he leapt over the board game at me like a lion after an antelope and attacked me. Losing at chess he just says “let’s play again.” Whew, I’m not in risk of bodily harm.
So this morning while waiting for the custodian to open the library up for chess club, Coach Leo mentioned a chess tournament that is being held tomorrow. We’d have to register Alexander with the American Scholastic Chess Federation but would receive a magazine as well as be ranked nationally. In the tournament he would play with other children in 1st – 3rd grade that are also beginners. The only requirement to play in the tournament is that they know the rules of the game. Four games are played and it is a zero elimination tournament, all children get to play four games. Alexander’s eyes widened upon hearing of the tournament and he proclaimed his desire to go. Seeing him enthusiastic about something is really great so it looks like I will be spending my Saturday in a waiting room with other parents of chess lovers.
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Mellie,
That is so exciting! Good luck to him tomorrow and hopefully this is ends up as the outlet he needs.
Thanks Nat! We’ve tried tee-ball, swimming, dance, gymnastics, etc and this is the first time I’ve seen him truly enthusiastic about something. I’m really hoping he continues to enjoy it.