Lessons from the 64 squares...
"Successful competitors want to win. Head cases want to win at all costs."- Nancy Lopez
My children will tell you: I have NEVER taken it easy on anyone when we play a full chess game. Doesn't matter if you're 4 years old or 104 years old, when you say you want to play a complete game, I will do my very best to dominate you. Now, if I am teaching you, that's a whole different story. I have watched the smiling faces of little ones who get their first pawn to the end of the board in our "Little Giants" mini-game. I have seen the pride of teens who performed their first king/queen fork with their knight. And nothing beats the joy of students when they put their first checkmate on me. It is important to me that my students know what a win looks and feels like.
I write this as I'm riding the train into work with homeless men and women sleeping on here (not this pic) just to keep warm. I wonder if they know what a "win" looks or feels like. And are WE winning as a society when it's more important to have sky high rent, low wages, lead in the water, and predatory lenders than for people to have basic needs? This is where "win at all costs" has gotten us. We have gained more stuff...and lost our humanity. #NOTG #ChessInRealLife #WhereIsTheLove #Humanity