The Brit (my husband) and I enjoy playing chess, and it was a fun part of our dating ritual. I recalled the chess game scene in the 1968 film The Thomas Crown Affair, starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, wherein the game of chess became a metaphor for seduction and sexual dominion. My grandson (Mini-Brit), who has a curious mind that works like a sponge, observed us playing chess and, for a while, would kibbutz.
One day he asked us to show him how to play. The Brit was ecstatic. He would finally pass down those superior chess moves to a willing heir to his chess throne. Yeah, right. After one week of daily chess games, my mate’s successor beat him in four moves, and continued beating my spouse in successive games. Brit was dazed for days. That’s when I stepped in, sent out the Chess Signal for a knight in shining armor, and found him. He is Doctor Chess.
Doctor Who? No, not that guy. Doctor Chess. He is the secret identity of a Central Coast resident, educator, and chess guru. He explained that many comic book heroes have secret identities—it’s part of the fun. Doctor Chess is like a comic book character come to life. He’s a teacher, an adventurer, and a bit of an action hero who has even played three-dimensional chess ala Star Trek.
“Technically, that is three-level chess or three-board chess,” he explained. “All conventional chess is three dimensional. I have a three-level chess set that we use once in a while.”
Chess has a wonderful history. According to Dr. Chess, the game in its present form has been around for at least 500 years. However, coordinating time, space, and matter on game boards has been around for as long as civilized man has been on Earth.
“There are artifacts, like the royal game of Ur in Mesopotamia, and reliefs going back to ancient Egypt and Greece showing gods, animals, and men sitting down and moving material objects on boards,” Doctor Chess said. “Of course, they had a certain amount of time to do that, you know, all throughout history.”
During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, skill at the game of chess was a requirement for knighthood. Now rock stars and actors can become a sir or dame.
Doctor Chess has been teaching the game to young people since 1974. He first became interested in chess in 1972, when the Bobby Fischer craze hit. Here was this American nerd who went up against the then-Soviet Union world chess champion and grandmaster, suave and debonair (at least I thought so) Boris Vasilievich Spassky. This “Match of the Century” was played in Reykjavik, Iceland, at the height of the Cold War and symbolized the tension between the two superpowers. I remember that when Fischer finally beat Spassky, chess became cool. Chess clubs at high schools abounded and guys who played chess were popular dates.
Doctor Chess was then a high school football player, and a pretty good one. But a severe injury sidelined him. With his knee trashed and his dreams dashed, he was a teen who hated the world.
“I met an old guy who taught me chess, and I saw that chess was like football players—there were linemen and quarterbacks—and this changed my outlook,” he remembered. “I have been working to do that for others ever since.”
He became an elementary school teacher, handling archaeology, logic, and debate. In 1985, he realized that chess was a great way to work with kids. He wanted to help them master the one game that would aid them in other subjects because it helps build on other ideas, using strategy and concepts. So Dr. Chess was born, and he transformed his ordinary elementary schoolers, teaching all subjects, into “The Unclass.” He brought his chess set into the classroom and in just two weeks, during art period, he taught his students how to play.
“After that,” he said, “when they finished their math class or language work early, they begged me to take out the chess board. Instead of having 20 different games, I wanted them to concentrate and excel at the one that would reinforce math, language, and science skills.
“Chess is a language that helps build the mind metaphysically as translated on the chess board,” he continued. “Think of metaphysical architecture in the mind: Bishops build triangles, rooks build rectangles, and knights build circles. This helps to build math and science skills. In chess, you are sending stuff across the board faster than the other guy can think. Chess deals with stuff, space, and speed: Time, space, and matter.”
This also helps children think outside the box personally and academically because, Dr. Chess said, “in order to think outside the box, you have to know what is in the box. Chess contains all the basic
elements.”
Doctor Chess explained that in his program, “You’ve got past, present, and future all meeting together in one location: a game from the past, a teacher in the present, and the future in the children learning the game.”
When he teaches students chess, he makes the pieces talk, like puppets, to give his students insight into why they make the moves they do. This is especially helpful when teaching a class with a diagram on a felt board.
His use of teamwork also illustrates how a game can become complicated if not done right. He teaches students that the human race has always had this exercise whereby they taught and learned to coordinate stuff in an efficient way.
“How many times have you heard the football or basketball announcer refer to the game as a chess match?” he asked. “Coaches show their quarterback the play they want run and, you know, Joe Montana wins the Super Bowl with 2.2 seconds left on the clock!”
The teamwork idea inspired the doctor to write the book Little Pawny, published in 2001. Illustrated with computer graphics, it was originally a fairy-tale introduction about chess for kindergarteners and first-graders. The book explains each chess piece, its importance and worth, chess moves, and various strategies as a battle ensues between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness.
On a deeper level, Little Pawny is about teamwork. When other white pieces boast about who is greatest, darkness begins to move in.
“We are all on one team and should all work together for the good of all,” advises the Doctor. He has donated copies to several school libraries, where he also teaches chess to children.
Doctor Chess offers summer chess classes and seminars for grades 2 through 8, and tutors ages 7 to 18 in the game. He also offers private lessons for adults. Mini-Brit loves his weekly tutorials with Doctor Chess, who also employs a computer named Chunky. The Doctor explained that “Chunky is a computer ‘tackling dummy’ that records games, which allows me to go over ‘games films’ with students.” When asked what he looks for in a potential chess student, he told me he is not seeking the next Bobby Fischer.
“My mission is to help produce good reasoning citizens, not chess champions. Give me ‘brains’ or ‘brats’ and I’ll improve them! All they need to bring to the table is
teachable spirit,” he said.
Adults aren’t permitted to attend the workshops. Communicating the complex strategies and tactics necessary for success in arguably “the greatest thinking exercise” ever devised requires an environment free from distractions, he explained. Parents are encouraged to discuss their children’s progress with the instructor, but direct observations aren’t allowed while class is in progress, he said.
“There is always a viewing window nearby,” he told me, and parents are welcome to observe classes from a distance.
Doctor Chess also holds chess tournaments, by invitation only, for his students. He recently held a Valentine’s Day All-Girl Tournament to encourage more girls to learn the game. Doctor Chess wants to encourage more girls to participate. Remember: It only took one Mia Hamm to change parents’
perceptions about girls’ soccer.
In the chess game of life, Ariel Waterman is always the Queen. Send chess moves to her via her editor, Ryan Miller, at rmiller@santa mariasun.com.
This article appears in Mar 25 – Apr 1, 2010.