“It
is in the character of very few men to honor without envy a friend
who has prospered.”
-Aeschylus
When I
was around seven years old, I started to play chess. I was bored and
my aunt had the game at her home in Queens and thinking I would like
it, she wanted to teach me how to play. At first I was bored with
it. I didn't want to play a game that required so much thought and
strategy at the age of seven, but when she started to teach me how
to win, how to manipulate the game with unseen moves by the
opponent, I started to love the game. I liked winning. That started
a fascination with the game that lasted for thirteen years. I won
several chess awards at my elementary school and one in Junior high
school five years later. In my first year of high school, one of my
teachers set up a match for me. I played a chess "expert" from
another high school.
His name
was Jason and was believed to have been some kind of master or wiz
at the game. According to other classmates, some teachers and even
the time keeper, Jason was forced by his parents to study the works
of Bobby
Fischer, the world renowned chess champion, first class psycho and
Jewish anti-Semite. I had not known who that man was but I learned
in high school after the game that he was clinically insane. His
recent death and the stories about him still fascinate me. It made
me think about chess and playing Jason one more time, for old time’s
sake. As I stated earlier, I like to win. Back in 1994, after our
match that lasted ninety minutes, Jason and I agreed to remain
friendly.
We did have a lot in
common. The one thing that held me back from being his friend was
losing that match to him. I felt cheated and I was a very, VERY sore
loser. I was envious and jealous of his victory over me. It was a
horrible blow to my ego. I abandoned the game that year. It took
forever and a day to get over the humiliation of losing the game to
him. After years of doing everything BUT play chess, I decided that
I should try my hand at the game again. While I am too old to become
a master at it (most masters of chess start around the age of five)
or to challenge someone like Jason again, it wouldn’t hurt to play
again, assuming I win.
