Confidently, I eyed my opponent across the chessboard. Justin Sandler’s head of unruly blond hair barely rose above the table where we sat. I had to chuckle to myself at his poise and seriousness as he set up the pieces. After all, I was playing chess before his father was born. I’d competed against another human being no more than three times in the past 30 years, but chess, I thought, was a lot like roller-skating: once you catch on you never forget. Besides, I play a tiny chess computer game endorsed by former world champion Gary Kasparov. So I knew the match would be short and simple. He wanted white, and I was glad to oblige.
“You’re taking a lot of time to move,” he said.
“Two moves till checkmate,” he chortled.
“We have a lot of people working hard to make this a good school,” said Stephen Smith, the 39-year-old principal who’s in his first year at Oakton, in early March. “I see a lot of pride here.”
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He vividly remembered the day, around the time Chris turned five, when that changed. “We were playing a game as usual, when suddenly I realized every move Chris was making was calculated–and devastating.” For the first time Chris creamed his father–in just over five minutes.
