From ages 7-11 I spent a lot of time on the weekends in gymnasiums throughout Minnesota. Every weekend I would show up to train and test myself against other Minnesota youth. We would compete all day and I would come home exhausted. My father would drive me to these competitions and then watch me perform. He stood silently with the other parents, not saying a word to avoid distracting the intense concentration of us kids. We were all singularly focused on the task at hand. Locked in an intimate battle that only 1-on-1 competition can bring. But we never moved from our seats. This competition existed solely in our brains. Who could outthink and outmaneuver their opponent first? Youth chess tournaments were no joke. 

I remember the first time I beat my dad in chess. He took me to Burger King to get a Rodeo cheeseburger as a reward. I think he was a little shocked that I had actually managed to pull off a victory. Fueled by the hope of future cheeseburgers and podium finishes, I quickly started attending local tournaments and got pretty into the game as a young kid. At one point, I had a private coach who was named Tatiana. She was an older Russian woman who was not afraid to point out my mistakes. Under her tutelage and my slight obsession with the game, I eventually was ranked one of the top youth players in the state for my age group. Every weekend, I would go to a tournament and play against the same players as we all competed for plastic trophies. I still remember the names of some of the players I competed against. I don’t remember why I really stopped playing chess with that level of intensity. I think I was in 5th or 6th grade and other things in life started to grow more important.

I still love to play chess. I much prefer playing over-the-board (in person) as opposed to playing online. There is something intoxicating about the mental grappling of the game as I sit across from my opponent. There is nowhere to hide on the chess board. I either have to make good moves or I make mistakes and have to accept the often slow process of defeat. The qualities of chess that are so alluring and timeless are very well explained in this essay by Benjamin Franklin: https://www.afterschooliowa.org/BenjaminFranklin_MoralsOFChess.pdf. 

Nowadays, I play with my brother and father whenever I am home with them. I also try to find open boards in parks around my community. We had a pretty good group going in Imperial Beach, CA every weekend down by the pier. We could play for a few hours at a time and enjoy the sunny ocean views. Now that I am in Chicago, I will have to find a new group to play with. It is always humbling when you show up to play and some 8-year-old kid thrashes you. But for the moment I just want to play for fun, no merit points or ratings are on the table. Control the center, develop early, castle. Tactics, tactics, tactics. Isolate an advantage and slowly press. Patience. Checkmate.