Newton man helps Cambridge chess team win big

By Chrissie Long/Newton TAB
Tue Apr 08, 2008, 03:53 PM EDT

Newton – With as much interest as they plug into video games, 13 boys leaned over a table in the library of Cabot Elementary School in Newton.

They sat in silence, their heads propped up on elbows, as Larry Eldridge mapped out a game of chess much like one would a football game.

“Alex is up a clear pawn in this game,” said Eldridge, a former sportswriter, sitting among his students in a chair far too small for an adult.

Moving pieces around a cloth chessboard, illustrating a game from the tournament the weekend prior, Eldridge said, “Max [the opponent] must not have been feeling too good and he tried to make an attack.

“Alex brings his queen up to protect his pawn,” Eldridge said. “Alex played a very good game here. Max is lucky he didn’t lose…”

It’s Friday afternoons like this one — with children encircling a chessboard like a campfire — that have led to the collection of countless trophies for Eldridge’s students and fostered a community passion for the game.

Here is the full story.

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