Chess player’s latest move like so many others MARK FUNKHOUSER
By JEFFREY SPIVAK
The Kansas City Star
“My strategy for life is something in chess called the positional game. It’s where you make adjustments, move by move.”Mark Funkhouser
It’s the end of a hard day on the campaign trail for Kansas City mayoral candidate Mark Funkhouser, and it’s about to get even harder.
The 6-foot-8-inch Abe Lincoln look-alike removes his suit jacket and takes a seat inside the Westport Flea Market. In front of him sits a chess board. Across the table sits a member of the Westport Chess Club with a national chess rating that dwarfs Funkhouser’s.
The game starts. The players each nab a knight. Funkhouser goes up a couple of pawns. His teenage son, Andrew, standing beside him, gives him a thumbs-up. Then his opponent attacks with a queen. It takes a rook. “Check,” the opponent calls out.
Funkhouser rubs a hand through his short-cropped silver hair. A minute later, he tips over his king, resigning the game.
This is his hobby. This is his weekly night out with the boys. This is what he does for fun.
And yet, he thinks, his chess game is terrible, “like an 8-year-old’s.” He often gets whipped at these Tuesday night games. So why does he keep coming back? Why does he continue to play if he’s so bad?
Because he relishes intellectual challenges. Running for mayor is just his latest one.
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Hope he wins! Good luck!