Learning how to play is tricky. But then beating your tutor (even if he’s only five) is the icing on the cake
My brother Dara says the day his son Cormac beat him at chess was one of the proudest moments of his life. Well, not to outdo him, but I’ve just achieved a far higher accolade. This week, I beat my five-year-old son at chess for the first time.
I’d never played chess before a month ago. There was no conscious choice to avoid it, I was simply never offered a game growing up. Perhaps my friends were deliberately hiding this secret hobby from me, out of fear I’d prove too powerful. Whatever the case, chess followed a familiar path in my life; I didn’t do it when I was young, and thus had zero interest in adulthood, since I refuse to engage in any activity I’m not good at.
