Almanac Life: A Special Kind of Chess Team

 

 

Image: Wikipedia

 

When I was aged four, I was in a car accident. As a result, I got an acquired brain injury. Because of this, I found primary school difficult. So, at the end of Grade Five, I was enrolled at a special school. I spent four years at this school, and it helped me a lot.

When I was fourteen, I decided that I wanted to go to a mainstream high school. So, the following year, that is what I did. I graduated, with a Victorian Certificate of Education, at the end of 2008.

Going from a special school to a mainstream school, was the most challenging transition of my life. I would not have got there without the help of a specific teacher. I’d say, in retrospect, the best teacher I ever had. He was both encouraging and patient. I had this teacher in my last year at the special school.

At the start of my last year at the special school, this teacher sat me down and put a chess board in front of me. He then asked me what each piece is called and how each piece moves. I was familiar with the game Chess already, so I answered correctly.  After this, he asked if I’d be interested in joining his Chess club. The teacher had started the Chess club at the school, maybe the year before. Other students from my class were already part of it. It also had students from other classes.

In the afternoon, during the week, we’d play chess against each other. Which, at the time, I liked, because it meant no school work. The teacher didn’t just teach us the basics, he taught us more than that. He taught us strategy, like using multiple pieces to attack. Ultimately, he taught us how to win.

During one of these afternoon sessions, some people from the local newspaper came to the school. I was photographed to accompany the article. So I was in the local paper, that was cool. That same day, the teacher told us about an upcoming tournament.

This tournament would be the first time, we’d played against anyone other than each other. My school would host it on a day off. I was both excited and nervous because we’d be playing against students from mainstream high schools.

On the day of the tournament, we arrived early. There was a marquee set up in the yard. We helped set up the tables and Chess boards. These Chess boards and pieces were large. Much larger than the small, magnetic boards we were used to using. After that, the first schools started arriving. And soon, the tournament was underway.

I recall winning the first game against someone from Siena College. How I went after that I cannot remember. Overall, for the day’s tournament, we came fourth. Which, seems to be a respectable placing, given the fact that seven other schools were competing. Seven mainstream high schools. There was also an article published in The Age about our tournament. I wasn’t pictured in that one. Here is the link to the article. https://www.theage.com.au/national/september-games-of-a-cerebral-kind-20050907-ge0ttu.html 

A year later, I was attending a mainstream high school. My former teacher must have spoken to my new school because he organised some games. This was between me and students at my new school versus my friends from the Chess club of my old school. People would have sat down in English class, opening their copies of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ only to have my former teacher and my friends show up to highjack their English lesson and play Chess instead.

In the years after that I joined a local Chess club which I was a part of for a few years. Now, I haven’t played Chess in years. I still remember how to play, maybe one day I’ll play again.