"If you can't make a move, make a stupid move"

(Sung to the tune of "If you're happy and you know it.")

So this is about Miguel's latest thing.

Two Saturdays ago he started attending the SECOND Ateneo Saturday Chess Clinic. What happened to the first one, you may ask? Well, that was offered some time in the first quarter, but he was already had an activity during Saturday mornings. So when the second one was offered, he begged me to let him attend.

You've gotta hand it to the boy; he knows what he wants.

So for the past 2 Saturdays, we've been trooping to the Blue Eagle gym for chess lessons. To my surprise the place is filled with (by my estimate) fifteen young, noisy, active boys who are truly excited about chess. They relish the challenge of a game and have a lot of energy. I don't know what goes on inside that chess room during clinic hours, but I got to witness Miguel playing against a classmate after hours. With them, a game of chess is not at all quiet, but punctuated with a lot of animated conversation, side comments and antics.

I've discovered that there's a lot of etiquette involved in chess, and they will learn the rules eventually. But right now they're just having a lot of fun while learning.

I knew that he had an interest in chess, which is why I brought home a beautiful chess set from China last year (pictured above). But I never suspected that he would really take a shine to it. Well, at least for now he does. I daresay it satisfies his intellectual curiosity.