Story 12. Playing Chess
My grandpa loves playing Chinese chess.
When he was in China, people came to play with him every day.
When he came to Canada for a visit, nobody would have played chess with him anymore.
One day after school, I found him dozing off in a chair. He seemed lonely.
I came up with an idea to help him.
I registered an account on the internet that would allow my grandfather to play chess online.
I woke him up and said, Grandpa, someone is waiting to play chess with you.
What? He said, his eyes opening wide. Who?
Where?
Come here, I said. I told him to sit down in front of the computer.
On the screen there was a chessboard.
The board is set up for you, I explained.
You can play with good players from around the world.
He had difficulty controlling the mouse.
He was too slow, so I decided to be his hand.
He told me where he wanted to go and I controlled the mouse.
After a few tests, we began to play a real game.
Move the horse left, I clicked.
Pawn forward, I did what he said.
It was a tough game as I chose to play with someone with a high score.
Each move was strategic.
When you play the game online, there is a clock that counts the time after each move.
Because my grandfather and I were still getting used to coordinating, it took time to move a piece.
The other player moved another step before we responded to his move.
Grandpa got very serious. He moved two steps. He cheated.
As I was trying to explain, the other player moved again.
Grandpa was very upset. He quit the game and said, I don't want to play with someone who doesn't follow the rules.
Of course, we dropped the game halfway through and that was the end of our online game.
A month later, Grandpa was leaving for China. The family prepared something special to welcome him home.
A team of chess players was waiting there to play with him.
As for me, I will always remember that time I played with my grandpa online.
