Chessmaster

The big boys have long enjoyed playing chess with Grayson, although they are currently playing at about my level (novice), while Grayson is more of an expert.

Recently Jake expressed an interest in playing, so after supper a couple of weeks ago, Grayson set up the board on the deck.

Jake started out just learning how to move the pieces (which is about as much as I know), and his brothers were VERY interested in giving him lots of "useful" tips.

Jake listened very closely to everything Grayson said and gave a lot of thought to each move. Meanwhile, I wanted to sop him up with a biscuit. Unbelievable amounts of cuteness were pouring out of him.

He liked taking his opponent's pieces a LOT.

When he was successful, great joy and wonder were evident!

Listening intently for more direction ...

Watching to see what his opponent would do next ...

A glimpse of half of the peanut gallery, who gave me a cheesy smile ...

The coach was very serious about his coaching job.

The game went on much longer than I thought ... I didn't think Jakey would last more than three or four minutes, but he hung in there for at least 10.

It helped that his brothers were cheering him on the whole time.

I can't remember now if it was Grayson or Jake who yelled "Checkmate!"

But whomever it was, Jakey was happy. He felt like he'd won, just for playing.

So although to me, Chess is about as boring as Trivial Pursuit (and I am equally good at both of them), I'm willing to watch as long as this little guy is playing.