Mr. Boy likes to play chess. When I taught him, a few years ago, he’d lose his temper when he lost. So we didn’t play a lot. Now, he’s in competition with another boy in his third grade class on various things, mainly reading-comprehension scores. But the other boy also plays chess.
So, since Mr. B. can now lose with relative equanimity, we play chess a couple of times a week. Usually I try to help him stay out of trouble and take my time beating him. I recently got him a chess program for his Nintendo DS called Chess Master. He’s had a lot of fun with it, playing against the computer at the easy level, and occasionally winning. It shows. In our most recent game, I was perking along, trying not to proceed too quickly to checkmate, when he made an unexpected move. He had taken my queen. Yipes. I managed to checkmate him without her, but it took longer. The smile on his face, however, was worth it.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 