Kasparov of the Desert

No rest for us: our second day in Beersheva (yesterday) they had us making a carnival for the little kids. My roomate Josh had brought a bunch of chess boards with him, and had the great idea of a chess booth. He and I ran it together, as we are both competent players and I can speak a bit of Hebrew. We also had our friend Gittel provide us with some key Russian terms.

The kids absolutely loved the carnival, and amazingly, the chess booth was a huge hit. Lots of kids, boys and girls, came to play. Almost all the Indian children that came knew how to play, as did many Russians (obviously). The Indian girls were especially good. Julio, a 12 year old from Ecuador, was also decent. He's very bright, and well on his way to being tri-lingual, as he speaks Spanish, Hebrew and English. I had a difficult moment with one small Indian boy, named Menashe. He was very good, so I decided to try somewhat harder against him and I beat him, rather than let him win. Afterwards, he got somewhat upset. I offered to play him again, and he agreed, but got bored midway and quit the game. I felt bad, but was told by the staff that part of teaching games is teaching how to lose, which makes sense, I suppose. I told him to keep at it because he really was quite good, and I hope he will. He doesn't live at the center, but with his family in Rehovot, so I may never see him again.

The real fun started when a local 12 year old Russian named Alex, a ringer who didn't even live at the absorption center, came by. He played Josh, who knows the game well. Immediately, Josh could see he was dealing with a real player and thus had to really play his hardest. Josh barely won two games and the third ended in a draw. At age 12, the kid's potentional is limitless, like his arrogance. It's amazing to see a 12-year-old who can take one look at anyone and feel utterly superior to them. Do chess players have agents?

Due to the startling success of the chess booth, I suggested to Josh that we start a regular chess club. We collcted the names, phone numbers and addresses of the kids interested, maybe a dozen in all. This will form a good portion of our volunteer work, hopefully. The chess thing was really one of the most fun things I've ever done. I absolutely loved it.