Bridging generations

Most of the action was in the room next door. Three dozen or so members of the Yarmouth Council on Aging — mostly women — were seated at card tables playing bridge.

But if they had been on the other side of the wall in the senior center’s lecture room, they could’ve seen an 81-year-old man quietly beat me up in fewer than 20 moves, give or take.

Afterward, I tried to salve my bruised chess-ego by telling myself, “If I weren’t in a rush, I would’ve been more patient and easily crushed my opponent,” who was literally twice my age.

Deep down, though, I know that was just an excuse.

I had a better excuse for being there in the first place: to witness the birth of a brand-new, bouncing baby chess club.

My opponent, Joe Ruff, was there for the same reason. But he was dealing with his own disappointment.

“I really hoped more people would turn out for this,” the retired oral surgeon said ruefully, acknowledging the lack of attendance at the Yarmouth COA’s first club meeting.

Besides Ruff and myself, the only other person in the room was my friend-in-chess Mark Donlan, who had driven down from Chatham to give an intro-to-chess presentation for what turned out to be a group of one. (Full disclosure: Donlan is the proprietor of Chesscafe.com — an online retailer and international web-only magazine covering all things chess — for whom I write occasional book reviews).

Full article here.