126. 1st Grade SRR: Faith Plays Chess

Faith bit her lip. She felt small walking into the big hall. The place was full of kids, but no one was talking.

Faith was here to play chess. She was good at the game. She knew that each kid in this hall was also very good at chess. She would need to think hard and make smart moves if she wanted to win.

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Faith learned how to play chess from her dad. He told her the rules and showed her how to play. Chess has many rules.

The game has a queen, knights, rooks, pawns, and others. Faith had to learn the moves each one could make in a game. To play, she had to plan how and when to move each one.

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“This tall one is your king,” her dad had told her. “You must keep him safe at all times. If I can harm your king, we say he’s in check. If you can’t save him, it is checkmate, and there is no safe spot for him to move. That’s when the game ends.”

“I think I get it, Dad,” Faith had said. “Can we play now?”

Faith could still picture that first game in her mind. It had ended with her dad saying, “Checkmate! That means I win.”

“Let’s play again, Dad!” Faith had said.

Faith and her dad played almost every day. Now she played better than he did! Her dad was very proud of her.

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Now, Faith played chess for prizes. Often, she would win her matches. Less often, she lost. Sometimes a match ended in a tie. This is called a draw.

Faith’s last few matches had ended in draws. Today, Faith wanted to win.

“Take your places,” a woman said. Faith found her place and took a deep breath.

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Faith sat down at the black side. She was playing a boy called Paul. He had white, so he went first. Faith soon saw that Paul was really good at chess.

“Think!” Faith told herself. She made a plan for her next few moves. It worked!

“Checkmate!” Faith said as she reached over to shake Paul’s hand.

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