Finally, I think I maybe found a clue to the mysterious event involved in my first conscious memory of chess:
Your first memory of chess ...
Sort:
Alexander,
Your grandmother was a very wise woman! And your family life was full of beauty and meaning, as revealed by the word-picture you so skillfully painted.
I especially like your grandmother's words where she said:
You will have hard days too, but you have to be able to see the sunlight even in the darkness.
This reminds me of the words of my favorite poet Leonard Cohen:
Everything has cracks in it -- that's how the light gets in.
For most of my life I have tried to understand the meaning of suffering. In my younger days (I'm 55 now), seeing suffering everywhere made me very angry at God/Universe. But I now think suffering exists to teach us compassion towards others, and to more fully appreciate the beauty and preciousness of life.
Your wise grandmother also said:
Contacts with people help to find own strength, give courage. The whole point is that the people all over the world are the same independent of their education, age, nationality, merits or demerits. ... There is not any person in the world, who does not need kindness.
Yes, this is the attitude the world needs if humanity is to survive and prosper. We are all in the same boat together, and have the same needs and fears. I pray that more people will awaken to this noble truth. Thank you so much for contacting me, I am very happy to meet you, and hear your experiences!
Jan 6, 2016
0
#25
Cloudoncolorsky wrote:
My grandmother, Anna Ivanovna has seven children. Grandfather is a
cabinetmaker and always at work.
The grandmother is a housekeeper and great chess player. She gave me the love to a chess and an to an art-painting
There is big Russian brick stove for cooking and stove heating in the middle here house. The stove and near the bid stove is 2 small rooms and kitchen.
Grandmother know a lot of tales, she likes to tell stories about life of
children and parents. Today in Ukraine and in Russia young people considers large family only as "insuperable difficulties". And in the patriarchal, tradition family of my grandmother all was happy and joys. In grandmother''s house were reigned, crowded with happiness and joy and benevolence.
Everyone helped each other, children and adult worked in house and kitchen garden and the work do with pleasure. We were sure that without our participation the house will not be really good.
And after the tea especially in long winter evenings we liked to read aloud
the novels of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Chekhov, the verses of Pushkin, Shevchenko and other writers. Often someone, especially, grandmother told ud stories about exiting events.
I remember our discussions and arguments. It is imprinted upon my memory always. In summer we go to the forest or fields. In winter we toboggan together, we fall into snow and laugh. At those times of my grandparents they did not read pedagogical books, but the knowledge of life get by the foregoing generations was passed by word of
mouth from old to younger. We were brought up not only with cakes and praises, sometimes we, especially, the younger, got a slap. And may be the most of all the hard punishment was for children a severe look, a warning voice. Elder children were punished more severe:" Stand to the clock and think over ". (We had a large pendulum clock with melodious striking.) It is better to do all the work together, most of all I like when our family is together, then the work bring joy and the even any simple meal is nice with bon appetite and useful for everyone: and child and adult.
There were the traditions in grandmother''s houses everyone who attained his majority, - at first children, then grandchildren, who grew out, received, as greatest present and inheritance, a small box for papers. Each time the small box for papers was of different form and without fall made of "eternal wood. Grandfather hands made the small box for papers and grandmother put into small box for papers a sealed envelope with the super-scription:" The ray of light for a rainy day of hard times!"
When presenting the small box for papers she said:" Now you are grown-man. The whole world lies before you. You can do a lot of things. You know what the labor is, know its importance and its worth. Not all your dreams and wishes will come true. You will have hard days too, but you have to be able to see the sunlight even in the darkness. I wish this thing will help you on your hard day." All that was long ago, but my small box for papers stands still behind the bookcase glass. The sealed envelope lays long in the small box for papers.
When hard times came and I felt miserable and was in the need of help I open my envelope and took out a folded in two papers with the words written by grandmother''s hand.
"My dear Alex! At hard times it is a human nature to turn the mind to the best days, to the childhood Happy reminiscences help to find peace of mind, confidence. And in calm onfidence you will take the right decisions.
My dear Alex! Feeling of uselessness and boredom era for the egoists. Loneliness is not the human nature way. Isolation oppresses, surrender oneself to despair.
Contacts with people help to find own strength, give courage. The whole point is that the people all over the world are the same independent of their education, age, nationality, merits or demerits.
Look intently to one’s, to his essence and feeling of enmity, irritation will disappear.
My dear Alex! It is the main human cause to do good works. Even if you are in trouble now, however you have to look around. You will see people who have given himself and need help more than you. There is not any person in the world, who does not need kindness.
Do good work, act only out of kindness - this is the most safe way to the best days".
When rereading these precious words I hear the voice of the wise woman who has born seven children and made them, grandchildren and all around her lavish gifts of attention and warmth of her heart. My good memoirs, good after glow help me. I am happy and I got energy for the future deeds.
If you have any questions for me, please, feel free to ask me.
I will look forward to hearing from you.
Alexander
you are novelist?
My first memory of chess was my father beating me 100 games in a row.
From that, I figured out that chess is a game of logic and skill.
ponz111 wrote:
My first memory of chess was my father beating me 100 games in a row.
From that, I figured out that chess is a game of logic and skill.
He didn't lose on purpose once in a while? Well at least he was honest, and maybe trying to teach the value of perserverence. Good for you for not getting too discouraged!
TurboFish wrote:
ponz111 wrote:
My first memory of chess was my father beating me 100 games in a row.
From that, I figured out that chess is a game of logic and skill.
He didn't lose on purpose once in a while? Well at least he was honest, and maybe trying to teach the value of perserverence. Good for you for not getting too discouraged!
He enjoyed beating me but soon after the first 100 games, I enjoyed beating him and he stopped playing me.
In our home, we had competition in bridge [card game] also. My sister and I and my mother and father would switch sides so as to eventually get one family winner.
Over 24 years ago when I was 19 years old my friend/coworker made a chessboard out of cardboard and chess pieces were made of paper. That is how and when I learned to play Chess! I caught on quickly and remember beating him everytime after our 1st few games lol. Now I have a beautiful Revolutionary War chess set from England that sits on my chess table... love the game!
PEACE-OF-MIND wrote:
Over 24 years ago when I was 19 years old my friend/coworker made a chessboard out of cardboard and chess pieces were made of paper. That is how and when I learned to play Chess! I caught on quickly and remember beating him everytime after our 1st few games lol. Now I have a beautiful Revolutionary War chess set from England that sits on my chess table... love the game!
From simple beginnings, come great things!
My first introduction to chess was watching my older brother and sister play on a tiny magnetic travel board.
They didn't really know how to play at the time, and on the first move, they would always take the queens off the board with the illegal moves 1. Qxd8+ Kxd8. I remember one night we were all waiting in the car while my mom was shopping, and they were playing chess. Somehow, the door opened and the board and pieces fell out of the car onto the asphalt. Did I mention that these pieces were about the size of eyeglasses screws? (Okay, maybe just a little bigger...) As you can imagine, it is very difficult to find tiny black and white pieces scattered across grey asphalt at night, but my brother tried his best. At one point, a policeman stopped and asked him what he was doing. When he told him, the policeman tried to help him, and together they found every piece except a black knight. We used a tiny black rubber stopper to replace the lost knight.
We still have that mini travel board in a closet, and it's still only missing one black knight.
My father and his friend playing at the dining table over many beers and a haze of cigarette smoke.
I once asked if I could play and my dad said "No son, this a game you play while drinking, and you're not old enough to drink yet".
No, I said "many beers and a haze of cigarette smoke". I only see one beer there and no cigarette smoke. Besides, dad never played outside of his or friends' houses. He never did clubs or tournaments or anything else.
My first experience was frustrating. I was seeing problems in a newspapers every week ; it was looking strange to me, and I asked my parents about it.
But they answered they have no idea how it was working...
I now realize I don't remember why and when I learned to play.
Bobby Fisher was a king and saw him I my Weekly Reader in grade school!
TurboFish wrote:
Yes haha I agree! I was hooked from day one :)
PEACE-OF-MIND wrote:
Over 24 years ago when I was 19 years old my friend/coworker made a chessboard out of cardboard and chess pieces were made of paper. That is how and when I learned to play Chess! I caught on quickly and remember beating him everytime after our 1st few games lol. Now I have a beautiful Revolutionary War chess set from England that sits on my chess table... love the game!
From simple beginnings, come great things!
First memory is playing a cheap plastic set with my family in the mid 70s. Nobody was really a player, it was more a change from Risk and the fact that we never figured out the rules to backgammon. Those pieces SMELLED! Not in a bad way though, just very pungent and "plasticky" In fact the smell is what I remember most about my early exposure to chess.
I didn't really become enthusiastic about chess until my 20s.
Feb 5, 2016
0
#38
When I was about age five or six my dad would take me to the sporting goods store and one day he bought a folding chess set and taught me to play over the course of the week. I think it was 1989. We would play on the floor. The chess set was of the Dubrovnik style Soviet design that was common in 70s and 80s. The Knights were closely resembling lardy style Knights. Bishops, Kings, and queens had opposite colored tops. The pieces were black dye and blond wood. The tops of black queens, bishops, and Kings were made from plastic paper white. They'd often fall out but I didn't lose them all.
I was in the stage of my childhood when I marked the apartment's walls and toys with markets or pens. I remember I scribbled on the side of the board.
My dad would explain the moves in the first week. Then I remember he'd be explaining how to checkmate, connecting rooks, using bishops to control diagonals. He sometimes would tell me about how, for a brief time, my uncle who was a regional champion in our area of Ukraine and that he was really good at chess.
We also used the same board to play checkers.
I was in the stage of my childhood when I marked the apartment's walls and toys with markets or pens. I remember I scribbled on the side of the board.
My dad would explain the moves in the first week. Then I remember he'd be explaining how to checkmate, connecting rooks, using bishops to control diagonals. He sometimes would tell me about how, for a brief time, my uncle who was a regional champion in our area of Ukraine and that he was really good at chess.
We also used the same board to play checkers.
First memory "......how bout best?
Family tournaments
Family tournaments
Was playing a form of chess with my brother. We would each sit in different rooms with our own chess board and set. We would make moves but the other player did not know the moves.
There was my brother's friend who was the person watching both games. He would say when a move was over and if it were a check or a capture. Lost a couple of games to my brother even though in "real chess" I could beat him easily.
Later, I found that the "inbetween guy" was relaying the actual moves to my brother...
I first heard of chess in a Tintin comic book where Cap. Haddock was deliderating whether he wanted to take Tintin's bishop and lose his queen, or do something else... this ignited my 6-year old spark, and, years later, this is me. Still an amatuer.
Your not gonna do anything stupid are you?
???
Okay, finally got it. Wow. Nope... I like my queen. ;)