Game 52: Chess

We love the "newer" games such as Settlers of Catan and Seven Wonders, but classics are classics for a reason, and it was high time we play one!  It's tons of fun to play the newest award-winning game, but things move into a different realm altogether when playing a game that's survived for millennia.  When I play a classic game such as Backgammon, Chess, Go, or Nine Men's Morris, I feel like I am entering the sweep of history.  It's almost like time travel.  I'm also intrigued by chess because I've always had an affinity for royalty, and this not only contains pieces relating to a royal court, but it has also been called The Game of Kings.
As much as I hold this game in honor, I don't play it often.  For as much as I like to think and strategize, I find that the level of thinking required in chess can be intensely stressful, and as a mathematician I feel as if there is an expectation for me to be a formidable player, which adds even more stress!  Various members of my family have studied this game deeply for a time - one of my sons, a cousin, my brother, an uncle - and I think my grandfather also played at some point in his life.
 Caleb was my worthy opponent today - his last day at home before heading back out of state to college.
 It was pretty even early on - both of us having taken two pawns and a knight.  In the middlegame, he and I both felt I was really crushing him - had taken many of his power pieces and had most of mine left  - both bishops, both rooks, and a knight.  But he turned it around and got me on the run, stuck in a position of having to make defensive moves rather than offensive moves.  The result can be seen below:
 Woodworking was a hobby for my grandfather.  The board we played on today was made by him.  He made boards for my husband and each of our sons. (Grandpa made chessboards for all his grandsons; for granddaughters he crafted jewelry boxes.) Each board is unique - differing from the others in types of wood used, stains, and detailing.
 Here is a picture from a few years back of one of the chessboards on display in the game room.

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