Chessmasters

I was never a big chess player in my earlier years. I learned to play chess in my 7th grade English class (we had a chess tournament), but I was terrible. The only thing in my favor was that the teacher paired me with the other girl in the class who had no real inkling how to play either, and so our game ended in a draw, each of us only left with our king.

Terence is a chess fan, however. One of the things that disappointed him when we got married was how little interest I had in playing chess with him. (Partly because he just slaughtered me every time.) But over the years I've ended up more likely to play with him, and now we have a longstanding chess series going against each other on Facebook. (For the record, I am kicking his behind, but only because he keeps forgetting to move until the game times out and I win by default.)

Somehow, the kids have inherited their father's passion for chess. M was persistent about wanting to learn, so Terence finally bought a tutorial chess board (all the pieces are labeled with how they can move). Now, M and J are both learning how to play chess. J is starting to get the general idea about how the pieces can move, which is pretty impressive to me. But M! The girl has it down. When she plays against me, I really have to play smart or she will sweep the board. No playing it easy on my 8-year-old! Obviously, they are their father's children in this department.

So M is a pretty good strategist-- I wonder what this talent will develop into when she's older? Isn't it fun to see these kinds of talents pop up in your children and wonder where they will lead?