Nathan and chess

Nathan used to really love chess. He took chess classes for a couple of years and even went to a state meet and did pretty well for a first timer. We never got into ranking and all of that but he did play against some kids who were ranked and had personal chess coaches.

Then he decided that his life was "not all about chess" and he got serious about Junior Bible Quiz. For three years that was his thing and he didn't play any chess.

Last weekend, he and I went to a free chess exhibition at the library. This grand chess master was going to play 25 people at once! No one had a chance at winning of course, but the fun part was to stay in the match as long as you possibly could before he inevitably beat you.

It really was fun to watch even though I know next to nothing about chess. (even though Nathan has passionately tried to teach me on several occasions)

The chess master would go up to one person and they would do their move and then he would do his move. Then he walked away and went to the next game. (You couldn't do a move while he was gone) Fifteen people (and not 25) showed up to play against him. He was a very sweet spirited, humble man. The librarian said he didn't think "there was a person or a computer program that could beat him." But he still made all the competitors feel like they were doing a really great job and I appreciated that to no end, since most of them were children.

After about 20 min. or so, the chess master started beating some people and their games were done but Nathan was still in.

Then half the competitors were eliminated and Nathan was still in.

Then all the grown ups were eliminated and Nathan was still in...

He ended up staying in the third longest or I guess you could say, he came in 3rd place out of 15. I thought that was really amazing! (especially for a guy who hadn't played in 3 yrs.) .

It turned out that every person playing (minus Nathan and another girl) were either students of the his or were one of their fathers. The chess master knew everybody. Which gave you the feeling that their life "is all about chess" and that made Nathan remind me on the way home,

in case either of us had forgotten that his life "is not all about chess."

This year, he's decided his life is all about traveling and memorizing scriptures. (emphasis on traveling) So, Teen Bible Quiz is his thing this year. Which is a pretty cool thing.

You can't loose if you have the Word hidden in your heart. : )

~Becky