Chess Queens by Jennifer Shahade

Author:Jennifer Shahade [Shahade, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781399701372
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2022-03-03T07:00:00+00:00

Jennifer as a preteen with a chess trophy (Shahade family collection)

In the summer of 1994, a year after the theater camp, I went with my brother and father to Chicago to play in a two-week chess tournament. I was now thirteen, and hanging out with boys had become more fun for me. For the first time, I played blitz all night long and threw myself into my daily matches. My results and play improved immediately. Variations began to click and pieces danced into place. Sacrifices revealed themselves to me. Suddenly chess coaches and peers began to notice my talent. My dad also was stunned and impressed, taking me to tournaments, and arranging lessons for me. Obviously, I still had the same brain and the same neurons, but now I was motivated.

After Chicago I began to study the game seriously, on my own as well as with my schoolmates and my family. I would scrutinize my past games, looking for places that I played badly and searching for the reasons why I faltered. In this form, chess could measure my mind, which would sometimes expand to a size I wouldn’t have imagined possible, but at other times would contract, resulting in lazy play.

Post-game analysis has a rich tradition in the chess culture, and most tournaments have skittles rooms where players discuss their games freely. Moves that were discarded during the game for being too risky or just wrong are tried out in analysis, where pieces can be sacrificed at whim. If the combination doesn’t work out, the pieces are reset and another sacrifice is tried. Jokes and animated input from kibitzers replace the strict silence and head-to-head format of a tournament game. In the best cases, such post-mortem sessions become more satisfying than the game being analyzed, much like a Sunday brunch, where yesterday’s party breaks down over Eggs Florentine.

In the room I had lived in until college, I have copies of notes to my old games. ‘Not patient enough,’ I scribbled about one rash move. ‘I need to be more comfortable in waiting for something to happen.’ I was hard pressed to resolve one inexplicable blunder: ‘I threw myself right into the rocks.’ I did give myself credit for nice wins, though. In the notes to one win I wrote, ‘I was able to find the hammer blow right away.’ This rigorous introspection has carried over into my life outside of chess, where I often dissect my own behavior in conversations and encounters.

I often wonder how different my life would be without chess. Many of the other selves might have been happier, more politically active, and more likely to land in stable relationships and jobs. But without chess, I would be less confident and cosmopolitan, with fewer varied experiences and international friendships.

In China, a great chess tradition for women is greatly assisted by the government, which sponsors training and provides salaries for top players. The Georgian women of the former Soviet Union were offered similar resources. Recognition and support for

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