It is so great to see so many teachers, principals and coaches, etc. putting in the time and effort to get their kids involved in chess. Here is another story in Iowa:
05/12/2007
Principal loses to an eighth-grader
Dennis Friend , Staff Writer
It’s like the man said: Two out of three ain’t bad. Unless you are highly competitive like Lewis Central Middle School Principal Sean Dunphy.
That’s when it’s hard to accept that eighth-grader Danny Cloud beat you at your own game, in front of all the students in the school cafeteria during lunch.
To be fair, Dunphy was playing Cloud, seventh-grader Matthew Andersen and sixth-grader Blake Huber at the same time. But, remember, Dunphy has been their Yoda for the game of chess, teaching them and dozens of other students how to play.
Dunphy has no one but himself to blame. He agreed to play Cloud, Andersen and Huber after they won the recent school chess tournament. They each beat two dozen players before Friday’s contest, so they were ready to throw down with Dunphy in the school’s chess version of Thunderdome.
Connie Simons is the facilitator of the Talented and Gifted Program at the middle school and said dozens of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students have been playing chess during their lunch hour since January under Dunphy’s guidance. She said before Friday’s lunch-hour contest Dunphy seemed nervous. Before Dunphy sat down to play, he offered the opinion that “I’m gonna get smoked. I’m afraid I’ll make a stupid mistake.”
The games started at 11 a.m. Dunphy moved quickly. He rolled his chair from one chess board to another, usually moving his pieces within 60 to 90 seconds. He and the challengers stared mostly at the boards, rarely talking, rarely smiling.
At 11:08, after no more than eight moves, Cloud put Dunphy in check. The king went down, Dunphy and Cloud shook hands, the first game was over and Cloud became the school chess champ.
Here is the full story.
Excellent idea! I like it!