I’ve been teaching Aidan how to play chess. We haven’t progressed very far. Aidan knows the names of most of the pieces but our games consist of simply putting the pieces on the board in some random order and rescuing pawns and knights from Steven’s mouth.
We play with a set from the former Soviet Union. The set was a going away present from an artist friend back when I lived in Bulgaria. The pieces and board are old, scratched from years of use and thousands of games but has been used only a handful of times in the last 10 years. Years ago I was quite good at chess but it’s been a long time since I played seriously.
Aidan seems to like the game. Every evening he asks if we can play and I pull the set from the top shelf of the closet and have him tell me the names of the pieces as we put them on the board. I enjoy playing with him. Maybe his interest will continue. Then I can teach him how the pieces move and some basic strategies. Until then I look forward to sitting on the floor of the playroom, the evening sun filling the room with light, and having Aidan tell me the names of pieces as he moves them randomly across the board.