B Marinello (Age 14)

The day that I fell in love with chess…

I remember the day that I fell in love with chess…I was a participant in a chess club taught at my school, by our math teacher, Luis Rojas, who showed us the following position:

With a smile on his face, he told us a story about King Tamerlan. King Tamerlan conquered Iran and Afghanistan and he used to play chess.

One day, a man wanting to impress the King , showed him this position, to demonstrate how difficult it could be to trap a powerful King.

In this problem, White is supposed to sacrifice or give up all the pieces except for the Knight on f7 , which is the one checkmating the King once it becomes trapped by his own Pawns.

Below is the solution and final position.

1. f3+ gxf3
2. Qe6+ Kf4
3. e3+ dxe3
4. Qf6+ Ke4
5. d3+ cxd3
6. Rc4+ Nd4
7. Rxd4+ cxd4
8. Qe6+ Kf4
9. Nd5+ cxd5
10. Bd6+ cxd6
11. Qf6+ Ke4
12. Rg4+ Nf4
13. Rxf4 gxf4
14. Bf5+ gxf5
15. Qe5+ dxe5
16. Nd6 or g5 checkmate

Since the first time I saw people play the game of chess, I loved it.

But, I had never been as fascinated by the game as I was on the day that my math teacher so passionately recounted the story of the King and his Chess problem.

I knew at that moment, that this game would always be a part of my life in the most profound way.

We all have our memories of the game, and how it came to be an important part of our lives.

My love started…with a Math teacher and a King.