Eden Bloom

As I do with most things, I’ve got to research a little before I commit.
I’m considering supporting an elementary/middle school chess club in the spring.

I introduced chess to our kids as early as possible and have enjoyed watching them put it all together and learn to the point where they can challenge my own ability. As I’ve shared with them inevitably the question is asked “why does white always go first?”

Since it was one of the first things that my kids asked, I assume others will as well. Rather than fumble through a response, I thought I would prepare a little and put together some resources to share. I’m not sure if all of these will make it into the final resource sheet, but it is a start.

• Black Grandmaster Pontus Carlsson Is Speaking Out About Racism in Chess
  https://www.newsweek.com/chess-grandmaster-black-pontus-carlsson-racism-protests-1511591
  Chess Grandmaster Pontus Carlsson of the Swedish National Team is speaking out about the pervasive racism he’s experienced as a black European, including at international chess tournaments, forcing a reckoning in the predominantly white world of chess.

 

• Breaking Down Patriarchy in Competitive Chess
  https://breakingdownpatriarchy.com/episode-5-breaking-down-patriarchy-in-competitive-chess-an-interview-with-anna-rudolf/
  AR: Yeah, I think the most famous one would be when I was accused of cheating with an engine in my lip balm. That made it to New York Times, New York Post, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, a caricature. It was literally everywhere in the world media, not chess media, world headline news type of media, that a 20-year-old girl playing at an international chess tournament plays the best chess of her life and three title players, men, say that she was most certainly using a chess engine hidden in her lip balm that was connected with a wireless internet in her backpack to a super computer. Every time she would open the lid off the lip balm she would see the right move inside the tin! And that’s how she almost won this chess tournament in France.

 

• Why does white always go first in chess?
  https://theconversation.com/why-does-white-always-go-first-in-chess-141962
  There are several psychological factors at play. A beginner of chess learns the power of “white first” very quickly. They will see that an opponent will prefer the white pieces if given a choice. They feel a sense of empowerment even when they are playing a stronger opponent. For this reason, players who play white may be more motivated to win. Conversely, we have been conditioned to believe that black should be content with a draw.
  

 

• Is Chess Promoting Racism?
  https://chessnewsandviews.com/is-chess-promoting-racism-a-collectors-view/
  In the meantime, however, possibly stronger arguments suggest that chess actually did not originate in India but in Iran. In Iranian chess pieces, however, such green or red coloured pieces could not be found. Rather, the Persian epic Shahnameh (شاهنامه) mentions the nature of chess pieces on several occasions. This indicates that the pieces given to the Iranian ruler were made of ivory and teak, i.e. white and dark brown. So it could well be that this was the origin of the colour combination of white and black that is still common today (a view, inter alia, expressed by Deborah Freeman Fahid, Chess and Other Games Pieces from Islamic Lands, London 2018, p. 65).

 

• Teaching Resource: Chesskid.com
  https://www.chesskid.com

 

 

Why do I stop myself from cursing you? I cannot adequately express my anger toward your god. I have, since my youth, been utterly disgusted by this intergenerational  failure of intellect. Why would you give up everything you have for this temporal bullshit; capitalism and christianity. And why would you put it before your blood? The god that justifies ripping a family apart due to some mandatory obedience is no god but flawed. I feel sorry for you only slightly more than you disgust me. Where is your forgiveness?

It’s been challenging to keep this up and meet my first big deadline of the year. I’ve managed to find peace with my level of engagement and ability. When I’m working on a project I typically have to put everything into it to get it done. While I don’t want to get too wonky about it, I find that there is an underlying process or formula that influences the why’s of this.

I play chess. Not very well, but I play. What I enjoy about the game is the analysis; going through as many scenarios as possible to anticipate potential outcomes one the board and influence them. That’s what I do to complete a project as well. When it is design and layout, when I’m opening up space and populating it (which sounds a little manifest destiny creepy), I’m using a similar method to anticipate distribution.

There is a softness and there is struggle at the poles and all manner of madness in between.

The distance between a caress and a crash into a fountain on the front lawn of her parents house at 4am.

Draw a line from the east side west and turn north when you see the carnage. It means she’s close.

Freewrite. There is a strange thing that happens when I struggle to find words. My mind throws randoms; start with this, what about that? The people who are most vested in your demise will say anything to tear you down. I’ve stayed out of larger community groups because the way most people do community is invasive. Stream of consciousness. There is a place where I go, that only I know, so far away. There’s a place where I go there when I get there I will stay. There is a place where I let myself be on occasion, when I am not forever more in the out door.