C is for Chess

A few weeks ago, Stuart joined his school-sponsored chess tournament. Kids from all over the county came. In preparation, Stuart and I trained for a couple of weeks on his GameBoy Dexter's Chess practicing moves and strategies and it paid off: Stuart won 3 out of 5 matches. If he had gotten just another draw - a tied game - he would have medalled with an outside possibility of third place. I was so proud of him. If he were to commit to the game, he has potential to be pretty good. We'll see n say...

The only disappointment I had was that I wasn't able to watch Stuart compete as no parent was allowed in the playing area. After the introductions (which I recorded on my digital camera), we were shooed out to a waiting room where our kids would come every hour or so to report on their progress. It's weird to think that out of all the activities in which a child can participate - sports, choir, orchestra - chess is the only one in which parents are barred from attending. Stuart tells me that the players are isolated as to prevent their parents from cheating: A tug of an ear lobe or a throaty cough could well be codes for QxB!, R-H8, checkmate.

I suppose there are chess moms and dads out there who want to see their children win at any cost. It's a shame that their indiscretions have made us all lose out on the experience.