Day 10 and the Weekend, an offer to coach a chess team

Tricksters Old and New
Bit of catching up to do.

Friday, the senior class got into the poem Beowulf at last starting with the problems the creature "Grendal" causes for the Danes. I love the way that Maurice Sagoff, the creator of Shrinklits condenses this part of the epic Monster Grendel's tastes are plainish.\Breakfast? Just a couple Danish.

The juniors read Langston Hughes' story "Salvation" in which he tells about a time when he "faked" being saved in a church revival to please his aunt and everyone else in the congregation. It is another example of the kind of reflective essay the students are going to be writing soon. I had something similar happen to me which I wrote about in a blog entry entitled "Camp Meeting".

This weekend has been part school preparation and part home remodeling. We are going to install new cabinets in the kitchen, so the old ones had to be taken out, moved actually. The old are being relocated in the our pantry to make way for the new.

I have also been working on my lesson plans for next week. The people who believe that teachers only work from 8am to 3pm don't know what they are talking about.

I also found out that Casady Schools wants to talk to me about becoming the coach for their middle school chess club. I held a chess camp for them over the summer, which I really enjoyed. If this works out as I think it will, I will be sponsoring three different scholastic chess groups: Centennial, The Village Library, and Casady.

Next week, the seniors continue with Beowulf while the juniors will be reading and working with Native American creation and trickster tales.

My Review of "Endgame" by Frank Brady

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fascinating and balanced account of America's greatest chess master.

Two things are undeniable about Bobby Fischer: 1) He is the greatest American chess player of all time, perhaps the greatest anywhere, though I cannot state that categorically. 2) He was a deeply self-centered man who believe that his genius gave him entitlement to say and do whatever he pleased. This book explores both aspects of Fischer. And while it becomes at times too apologetic for his egotistical, paranoid, self-destructive behavior, Frank Brady pulls no punches in describing Fischer's dark side while acknowledging Fischer's genius.

What to make of Bobby Fischer? As some have pointed out, we regularly overlook the negative sides of many fellow geniuses to enjoy what they have produced. I enjoy the music of imperfect me like Beethoven and Wagner. I appreciate the art of Paul Gaughan knowing how he exploited women. I enjoy the movies Eliz Kazan while deploring his betrayals before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Do I put Fischer in this group of people who were great artists, but flawed humans? Yes and no.

Yes, I do believe that Fischer was a genius who produced the type of beauty Marcel Duchamp saw in chess, but I believe that Fischer's ability to play a game does not entitle him to anything but condemnation for his insenstivity to other people, his persecution complex, and his ungracious behavior to any who displeased him in the slightest.

I read one time that, "while gratitude may be the humblest of virtues, ingratitude is certainly one of the worst of all vices." I believe that Fischer's worst vice was that he could not see past his own, largely imagined hurts and attacks.

For me, this taints Fischer's remarkable accomplishments on the board.

And even though he was a great genius at it, he still was playing a board game. Would I seek to mitigate this behavior in someone who played checkers, parcheesi, or mahjong? I would not, and I cannot forgive Fischer for believing that his ability to play a game played by young children made him any better or any more entilted that the rest of us.



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Worship Leader Remarks: 6-6-10, Chess and Me

I am playing chess with a middle school student
(Each Sunday, one lay member of my church, Mayflower Congregational, is given the opportunity to make some brief remarks before the offering is taken. Last Sunday, I spoke about my enthusiasm for the game of chess.)

I’m going to talk about the game of chess. I’ve taken an interest in the royal game. I’m still not very good at it, couldn’t tell you the difference between the Queen’s gambit declined and the Nizmo-Indian defense. But I enjoy playing it. I am the sponsor of my middle school/high school chess club, which has had a positive effect on our students’ behavior and learning.

Chess appeals to many of my interests: history, the arts, learning, and, yes, even politics. The history of the game goes back 1500 years to India, probably. In that time there have been only 3 or 4 major rule changes in how it is played. In arts like literature, chess has played a role in works as varied as “Through the Looking Glass” to “1984”. It is the subject of 1000s of books including game theory, psychology, and education. Chess improves logic, and creativity. And Chess has had its political side also. Those of my generation remember the “Cold War on the Chess Board” between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. When I read accounts of that famous match I realize that my sympathies should have been with the Russain Spassky who was a perfect gentleman and sportsman throughout the match as opposed to the paranoid, egomaniac Fischer.

Chess has also affected by gender politics. The biggest change in how the game is played came about in the 16th century when a piece known as the “minister”, that didn’t move much, became the most powerful piece on the board, the Queen. Women chess grandmasters, like Susan Polgar, are helping to produce a new generation of female chess players.

This summer, I am going to try to develop a chess club at the Village Library starting a week from Friday on June 18. If you have a child interested in the game, or you want to participate yourself, let me know.

Now it’s time for our offering, time for you to make you’re move and put in your check, mate.

I Have Bought a "Gothic" style Chess Set

Sometime back in the 60s, my parents bought a "Gothic Chess Set" that I enjoyed playing with against my brothers. Recently, I discovered something about the set and its designer.
Peter Ganine Chess Set
The set was designed by Peter Ganine who was born in Russia but came to America after living in what is now the Republic of the Congo.
The bishop
His designs are quite attractive and priced well within family budgets.

One of his sets was used for the Star Trek series "Three-Dimensional" chess games.
Scene from the 1960s "Star Trek" television show
I was recently able to purchase a Ganine set on eBay.

I Begin My Summer Reading

The Kings of New York
This is the first book I've completed of my summer reading. It's about the chess team from Edward R. Murrow High School in NYC. They have won several national championships in scholastic chess. Mainly, though the story is about the boys on the chess team as they wrestle with life and adolescents.

Bison Chess Players at OKC Chess Tournament

Jacori amd Kendel play a practice game before the tournament begins..
Two of our chess players participated in a chess tournament at the Oklahoma City Main Library on Sunday afternoon.
Jacori ponders his next move.
Dan Wade, a fine promoter of scholastic chess in our city, organized the tournament which was the last of a series of tournaments for young people this school year. Dan helps to sponsor a chess club at Wilson Elementary School in the Oklahoma City School District.
Dan Wade of the Wilson Elementary Chess Club
The students had a great time. There were groups of players from Norman Public Schools, Eagle Ridge Institute and many other schools and organizations in central Oklahoma.
My thanks to Dan for putting on the tournament. I also thank the Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization for their support of scholastic chess in Oklahoma.

Clinton Library Visit Part of Our "Mini-Vacation"

Cat and I decided we'd get out of town for a trip together, so we decided to go to Little Rock, Arkansas mainly to visit the Clinton Presidential library there. Other people take trips to the lake or beach. We go to political and historical sites.

The Clinton Library was very impressive. The building is designed to look like a bridge to go along with the theme for Clinton's successful "re-election" campaign: The Bridge to the 21st Century."

President Clinton Presidential Library

The library includes a replication of theCabinet Room,

And theOval Office

President's get many gifts from citizens and foreign visitors. This puppet was one of my favorites: Clinton Hand Puppet

The were even gifts of chess sets, so I HAD to include these.
"Masters of the Sea" Chess Set
"Celtic Themed" Chess Set

First OCHS Chess Tourney Was a Winner All Around

We had our chess tournament on Thursday with eight students taking part. The students enjoyed themselves so much that they asked if we could do it again before school lets out. (Sadly, we can't.) They also asked about keeping the chess club going over the summer. I'll have to look into that one.

Tulsa Hosts US Chess Championship

Tulsa is hosting the 2008 U.S. Chess Championship. It began Tuesday and will run through May 21st. Twenty-four players were invited to participate in the tournament.

Ironically, today the Bison Chess Club is holding its first intra-school chess tournament. The quality of play will be far different, but we will have a similar level of enthusiasm for the game.

Another note about chess in our school. This morning I was at my duty station reading a book on chess. A man who is acting as a substitute in our building came up to me and told me that when he has "free time" for the classes he subs in, several students pull out chess sets they have in their book bags and start playing chess games with each other. A colleague bought about 20 chess sets from The Dollar Store and donated them to the club. I've been giving them out to our students who don't have a chess set of their own. Obviously, this has had a positive affect in our school

Chess Links

Ben Frnaklin's Chess Set

I've added some links to a couple of sites where one can play chess on-line either by way of a "real time" game or a correspondence game where one has time to think about the next move.

Let me know if you want to play, and we'll arrange a game.

Our Chess Club is a part of the OSCO

The Oklahoma Centennial Bison Chess Club is now officially a part of the Oklahoma Scholastic Chess Organization. You can see our listing here: List of Member Clubs. I don't want to make a bigger deal of this than it is, but this represents a small step for our student chess players. Thanks OSCO!

News from the Chess Front

I have not blogged in a while, so I thought I would report of the developments with our high school chess club. First, I went to my first ever chess club which meets at one of our Barnes & Noble coffee shops on Wednesdays. Roger and Steve who are two of the mainstays of the club welcomed me and then proceeded to "school me" on chess. I mean that in the literal and slang since. They talk me some of the finer points of the game while they proceeded to wipe me off the board!

I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I don't have much invested personally in the game other than I want to learn how to play better so that I can teach better. So I will take my lumps for a while and try to be the sort of pulpil I ask my students to be. Teachers can make horrible students, but I am going to try to take some of my own medicine for a while.

We had our first after school chess club meeting on Thursday. We had one student so up. I had several say they wanted to come, but they did not follow through. I have a feeling that this will be a long term process for which we will have to make many adjustments. But we have started, and this is good.

Chess Blog

Bison Chess Club Logo
I came across a blog by Susan Polgar who is a chess grandmaster as well as a four time World Champion. The more I get into chess, the more I find that there is an inexhaustible wealth of material about it. Someone somewhere claimed that there have been more books written about the game of chess than any other game. I find this surprising considering the amount of TV time Poker gets these days.
Chessboard with standard Algebraic nNotation
Mr. Lyle and I are going to begin an after school chess program at OCHS. We simply do not have enough time to do more than play a game in our morning chess session. Sometimes that's not enough. The first thing I plan to teach is chess notation which is a method for recording chess games, much like keeping a scorecard in baseball. (Baseball and chess have much in common. I'll have to explore that in another post.) I've ordered a demonstration board to help teach tactics and strategy. I've been trying to teach myself a little about the game, and I'm fortunate to have Mr. Lyle helping me since he knows more about it than do I.

We start next Thursday. Wish me luck.

Thanks for the Chess Donations

Recently, I have had some generous people step forward and donate money for our students' chess club. I will now be able to purchase T-shirts for our club members. We will hold our first intramural tournament sometime after Spring Break, and all those who participate will be given a free T-shirt. We may even have money left from this to buy some needed equipment to help students learn and play the game. Thank you generous people of Oklahoma.

Ben Franklin Chess Player

Benjamin Franklin

I have been reading a fascinating book entitled The Immortal Game: A History of Chess by David Shenk. He talks about the origins of chess somewhere in India 1500 years ago, and shows how the game evolved through cultures and time to its present form and strategies.

Right now, I am reading the chapters that deal with chess during "The Enlightenment" which covers roughly the latter half of the 17th Century up to the end of the 18th Century, give or take a decade or two. One person who figures prominently in that era was Benjamin Franklin who loved the game and became so good at it, he outstripped most good players in America. Some have seen his willingness to live in France as the American ambassador as partly due to the fact that he could find more worthy opponents there.

Franklin even used chess in his diplomatic efforts to persuade the French to aid the Americans in the Revolutionary War. Once Franklin was playing chess with a woman who made a move that exposed her king. Franklin then proceeded to capture the king. The duchess, knowing the proper rules to chess, said, "We do not take Kings so." Franklin responded, "We do in America."

Chess set owned by Benjamin Franklin

Franklin also wrote an essay called "The Morals of Chess":
Ben Franklin on "The Morals of Chess

Responses to the Coppernoll Column

The Donated Board Looks a Bit Like This

I've had some responses to Carrie Coppernoll's column that ran on Saturday. This morning a man came to my classroom to offer me an inlaid chess table with some very good looking chess pieces done on a "Roman Empire" theme (Augustus Caesar as King, Roman footsoldiers as pawns, senators as bishops and so forth). Of course, I said a very grateful yes. The kids will fight over who gets to play the set, so I am going to have to make it some sort of "honor" to get to use it.

He explained that he and his wife would play chess regularly, but that she had passed away last year. He wanted to donate the set so someone would get as much joy out of it has he had.

Very generous people we have living in our community.

Carrie Coppernoll Writes about Our Chess Club

Carrie Coppernoll

Carrie Coppernoll wrote a column today for The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City's daily newspaper. I wrote her about our chess club and the fact that we needed to raise funds to buy some T-shirts for the students with the club logo, designed by my brother Rick, on it.

I met Carrie when she came to speak at one of the Oklahoma County Democrat's Friday Luncheon's. Her columns appear in the "MyNewsOK" section of The Oklahoman which covers local and community news.

OCHS Bison Chess Club Logo

School chess club offers students strategies for life

If you would like to help us, donations can be mailed to Oklahoma Centennial High School, c/o Lynn Green, 9017 N University, Oklahoma City, OK 73114. Checks can be made out to OCHS Chess. Donors of $100 or more will have their name or company name put on the back of the team shirts.

40 Developmental Assets (TM)

I have been reading a fascinating book entitled Chess for Success by Maurice Ashley who is the first African American International Chess Grandmaster. His books has convinced me that I made a right decision, for once, to begin a chess club at my high school, Oklahoma Centennial.

I will write more about what he said pertaining to chess, but I just finished a chapter where he discusses research done by the Minneapolis based Search Institute whose mission is to provide leadership and knowledge into promoting healthy children. Their research has lead them to identify 40 predictors of healthy growth in young people which they call the The 40 Developmental Assets for Adolescents. Young people who have 31 or more of these assets are less likely to engage in high risk behavior and choose instead more productive purposes for their lives. However, their research has shown that American youths average only about 18 of these assets, and as youths grow older, their assests diminish.

Mr. Ashley claims that chess is an ideal way to build more of these assets into chldren. In any case, I find the list to be a very practical way to measure how well we are helping young people to reach their full potential.

Here is the list in Pdf format

My Chess Club Donation Request Has Been Granted

Hooray!

Thanks DonorsChoose.Org

Link to DonorsChoose.Org

The Bison Chess Club

Oklahoma Centennial High School Bison Chess Club

My talented brother Rick has done it again. I asked him to provide the art work for the chess club I and another teacher are organizing at our school. The above is his result. The kids are delighted with it. (As you can figure our, our school mascot is the Bison.)

Our Chef Carrie discovered a web site where teachers can make requests to have projects funded. She helped me post a funding request for books and tools related to chess for students. If you would like to help on this (beg, beg, beg) you can go to
Chess For Success and help out.