For the Joy of Chess

 

 For the Joy of Chess

1971
A year spent in Europe with my 5 brothers and cousin
Mom and Dad
All in our VW Bus
A green one.
Camping in farmers fields.
Eating Spam and Eggs on a Coleman stove.

For desert?
Chess

Thanks to my Dad and older brother Dan
Both chess nuts
I caught the bug

For the Joy of Chess

1971 was the year of Spassky and Fischer
Bobby Fischer, soon to be newly crowned world champion
We played chess
Daily
In Belgium and French fields
Greek beaches
In the Alps, our chess board would be all setup

Family tournaments
More losses, for me, than wins
But I always left with knowing I could get better
I never beat Dad
But Dan, yes
When I was in my 30's !
Didn't matter
The trigger set off in my brain
When my pieces developed
When I castled early
When I actually had an end-game

I didn't know all the jargon
Queen's Gambit
Italian Defense
Heck I just played
And hoped the opponent would trip up.

I was never much of a reader
But Dan scoured all the chess books he could get his hands on
First one coming from Blackwell's in Oxford.
Dad got him "Botvinnik's Best Games"
Mikhail Botvinnik was "the guy" much before Spassky or Fischer.

I just learned that
Yesterday in fact.
I want that book now.
Ten years back Dan gave me
A huge stack of his chess books.
Much more that a wealth of knowledge
These books contained.
These books "were Dan"
And his joy for chess.

So I play
And keep playing
Maybe take a hiatus
But chess is always there
My board and pieces are waiting.
If I am white I always start by Pawn to King "4"
I am sure to win with this first move.

My kids now play.
My son Ty being taught
At five years old
By his Uncle Dan.
My grandkids now play too.
Being taught by their Uncle
My son Ty

The books will be waiting
Whenever they want to
Up their game.

For the Joy of Chess