There were several reasons why I was excited about learning how to play chess. First, my husband loved the game! Second, my son loves to play chess (learned from his dad) and I thought what a wonderful way to spend time with my son. So I shared with him my assignment and asked him if he was up to the challenge of teaching me how to play chess and he agreed. And lastly, I get to do something I haven\u2019t done in a long time\u2014-play!<\/p>\n
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So I decided to focus my energy on learning to play chess. The first thing I did was look for the chess boards. We own two very nice chess boards and I know if I did not look for the right away it would not get done. The next thing I knew I had to do was learn the names of the chess pieces. I knew that if I was going to play with my son I could not address the pieces as \u201clittle horses,\u201d \u201cshort pieces,\u201d or \u201ctall pieces.\u201d So, I did a little research.[3]<\/a> I learned:<\/p>\n I realized that the only thing I knew about chess was the purpose of the game\u2014to checkmate the opponent\u2019s king. But I had no idea how to do that. Clearly, this is not \u201ccheckers!\u201d<\/p>\n Now, the time had come to play with my son. For the past 5 days we played for two hours each day (not consecutively).\u00a0 The first day he asked me to set up the board and he was impressed because I knew how to do that. I even remembered the names of the chess pieces! But it was downhill after that. For our first game I had trouble remembering what direction to move each piece. I had tried to jump over a pawn with another pawn, and I was jumping over pieces as if I were playing checkers!\u00a0 It was evident that I had to continue doing my research. My son was very patient, but I did notice that his breathing got a little louder! \u00a0I knew I had to remember the moves for each of the pieces. So we agreed that I would have a \u201cmove sheet\u201d on hand which would help me remember the moves of each of the chess pieces. I was comforted by Kaufman\u2019s words, \u201crecognizing confusion can help you define exactly what you\u2019re confused about, which helps you figure out what you\u2019ll need to research or do next to resolve that confusion.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n I realize that this assignment is about learning a new skill, not perfecting it! On day five my son said to me, \u201cMom, I\u2019m proud of you. You remember the names of the pieces, you know how to set up the board and you are aware that not all the pieces can fly! You\u2019ll get it soon.\u201d He said, \u201cJust remember there are five basic things to playing chess:\u201d<\/p>\n He finished by saying, \u201cBut for now\u2026checkmate!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll be hearing more \u201ccheckmate\u201d than saying it. But I know the day will come when I too can say \u201ccheckmate!\u201d<\/p>\n This assignment was more than learning a new skill. It was about spending time with my son and discovering how good a chess player he is!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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