A little later this month I will be turning 52 years old and these many years on this beautiful planet has taught me some things and I can say without a doubt: It is important to have and recognize constants.
I believe there are certain things in our lives that will always be constant sources of happiness, joy or equanimity and it is important to recognize them, harness their inherent power to comfort us, and to engage in them whenever we can. One constant for me has always been the game of chess. I first learned to move the funny looking black and white pieces when I was 11 years old. I remember being enthralled as my dad instructed me on how they all moved and what their unique powers were. Then came the realization that the main goal of the game is to protect the king! A logical end game goal considering the king is the weakest piece on a chessboard and one hampered the most in terms of range and mobility.
For the longest time I have been wanting to start a chess column because I believe every decent newspaper should have one, and now the Record-Bee does too. After all, chess is the royal game, it is regal, it has been played for centuries, everyone has at least heard of it, and some even love it as much as I do. In short, it is a constant of our civilization.
According to Wikipedia, Caïssa is a fictional (anachronistic) Thracian dryad portrayed as the goddess of chess. First mentioned during the Renaissance by Italian poet Hieronymus Vida, Caïssa’s originated in a 658-line poem called Scacchia Ludus dating back to 1527, which describes in Latin Virgilian hexameters a chess game between Apollo and Mercury in the presence of the other gods. Even though I have been a devotee of Caïssa since I was a boy, I have sometimes neglected the game, forgetting about it from time to time. I didn’t play it for stretches of time, finding it again in college where I delighted in bouts of blitz games after classes or spending hours at the local coffee shops playing with friends I met at the local school club. See what I mean? A constant.
I taught an Asian American and recent immigrant student to play at my school once. She came back the following week and brough me a modest present as a sign of appreciation. I guess this is a part of her culture.
Another constant was my friend and neighbor Joseph. Joseph was a bit of a “man child” and what I mean by this is that even though he possessed a large frame, (in his younger days he had worked as a reserve officer at the local P.D.) he was also gifted with this big infectious smile and a child-like sense of wonder and whimsy. I enjoyed spending time with Joseph. I recall once we went to watch a James Bond movie because that was his favorite movie hero. We were sitting at the theater and after hitting up the concession stand, I had a box of Milk Duds and Joseph had purchased a few boxes of candy which he proceeded to wolf down during the previews.
The movie started and I soon heard him lament, “I am so dumb, why didn’t I save my snacks for the movie?” This lament became a sporadic quiet refrain, much to the chagrin of those around us. Every so often I could see him eyeing my box of Milk Duds longingly. So, I ended up giving Joseph half my box of Milk Duds and the gigantic smile came back on his face. Joseph did things like this all the time. He was a constant in my life until he wasn’t.
Joseph also loved playing chess with me, but he wasn’t very good at it. No matter how long I coached him, he never seemed to improve. Once he brought his Queen out too early and got it trapped, another time he castled queenside into a dangerous tactical position. “Joseph, why would you play that move?” But he would only smile and continue playing, win or lose.
Fast forward 30+ years later and chess has become a constant once again. I taught my friend Lisa Wilson to play and she was a quick study. Then I was delighted to read that there was a chess club formed through the Library in Middletown and I am making the drive out to South County at least twice a month to get in some action in devotion to Caïssa. I also occasionally play with the Ukiah chess club which meets Saturday in conjunction to that city’s Farmers Market.
Years later I moved out of the area and, sadly, didn’t really keep in touch with Joseph (he had been undergoing dialysis treatments since I knew him and was never in the best of health.) I heard he passed away a few years ago. I used to worry about winning all my games, and also used to fret when I was faring poorly but nowadays, I don’t really worry about that anymore, I just enjoy playing and learning from my more experienced opponents. Joseph taught me that it’s not whether you win or lose every game, it’s enjoying the time you have to spend with your friends. I have been lucky enough to have these constants in my life, and now through this ongoing column, I hope chess becomes a constant in yours as well. Once again, I am in the service of Caïssa.
—Ariel Carmona Jr. is the Managing Editor of the Lake County Record-Bee.
