I was just thinking about how nice chess has been in my life. When I was in high school I was a kid without any real direction and I was not a dedicated student. Chess caught my imagination. It was at first a mystery on how to play the game. In high school an older student in the chess club lent me a copy of New Ideas in Chess by Larry Evans. When I finished this book my chess playing improved significantly. Then I read The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy by Irving Chernev and I found myself using some of the strategic ideas in my games. What was great about chess was way rules of the game created so many possibilities, yet there were still ideas to pull out of the complexity, ideas that made sense. Chess moved from being a mystery to being a revelation.
Physics and mathematics have revealed laws of nature that describe how the universe around us works. And chess masters have revealed the laws of chess. Chess is a lot like mathematics where a small number of rules creates a rich and complex system. I enjoyed chess for many years and it was studying chess that led me to develop study skills that helped me do well in mathematics, science, and engineering at college.
I was in a Catholic all-boys school, Brother Martin, and a Chinese student in the chess club recommended I run for election as the club president even though I would not be a senior. Traditionally the president was a senior. After I won the election I wanted to be a good president so I arranged for us to have chess matches with other schools. When we played Holy Cross High School their 1st board was a freshman named Jim Rousselle. Our 1st board was a senior and Jim wiped him out.
I could drive so I offered to drive Jim to the Eches Carre Chess Club, which at that time was meeting in the Milton Latter Library on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. Jim mopped the floor with everyone. While Jim was still in high school he became the Louisiana State Chess Champion. He defeated all the adults. I remember one time when I was picking him up he set up a chess position from memory and showed me a spectacular combination played by Frank Marshall, the famous American chess champion. Jim could remember entire games from memory. Can you picture how talented Jim Rousselle was and is still? I just checked and he won the state championship for the 6th time in 2013.
One more story about Jim. We met at a high school chess tournament at Jesuit High School and I groaned because I knew how out-matched I was. He told me I could pick my color and the opening. I chose white and I asked him to play the Queen's Gambit Declined. I thought this might be my best chance for a draw. Then he sacrificed his queen. Of course he crushed me. The combination was so nice he had it published in the Louisiana Chess Association (LCA) Chess Bulletin.
It was an older player in high school who helped me improve by loaning a book to me. I like to think I helped Jim Rousselle on his road to success in chess. Finding the Eches Carre Chess Club was difficult. There was no internet at that time so I do not know how he would have found it if I had not taken him there. They did not advertise, but they had great players and they had club tournaments that helped me and Jim grow as players.
Helping others is a Confucian concept. From the CONFUCIAN ANALECTS by James Legge, Book VI, CHAP. XXVIII, Verse 2, we have this: "Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others." You can download this version of the Analects from Project Gutenberg, or you can purchase my book on Confucianism , Achieve Lasting Happiness: Timeless Secrets to Transform Your Life by Robert E. Canright, Jr., that includes the Analects. This is my introduction to the Analects for general reader.
Chess has been a big part of my life. It has been very satisfying. I was once in a chess tournament in Richardson, Texas, and I saw my opponent was Rodney Thomas. I said to myself, "I know a Rodney Thomas from New Orleans." Well, my opponent was Rodney Thomas from New Orleans. He was a freshman while I was a senior in high school. He was now much better in chess than I was and he defeated me soundly, but it was a pleasure to meet him as an adult and to get to know him better.
FYI: here is a link to some of Jim Rousselle's games on the internet: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=132728
Chess has been good to me in so many ways: learning to study, personal growth, like developing a sense of intuition, and then the joy of companionship with other players. I recommend chess to you.
Robert
