Yesterday I had a great surprise. I looked up from my desk and was surrounded by 5 teens who had gotten together and decided they wanted to have a meeting of our Chess Club. I was the last to know, but I set up and had the program anyway.
I started the chess club back in January after a few requests and we are still establishing a set schedule, although we are trying to meet twice a month. At the first meeting I invited the leader of the UCONN Chess Club, Tom, to facilitate and go over the rules. I am not a very good chess player, much to the delight of the members who enjoying beating me in as few moves as possible. Tom stayed for about an hour and brought with him a 16 year old chess master who played four of the members at the same time (making one move and then moving on to the next player and board). He beat them all in close to 5 minutes.
Since then, I just set out chess boards and let the group play. I have a few different members each time, but usually about 4. They enjoy challenging trying to replicate the Chess Masters game and just playing against each other—rotating their partner after each game. At our most recent meeting (despite not knowing what day it would be) I had printed out several Chess Puzzles and the group worked through them, solving all but one.
This is a fairly easy program, especially since I have an interested group. I am super impressed with their desire to learn about and get better at the game.
-Kristi from Booth & Dimock
