I grew up playing chess with my younger brother who was a chess varsity player when he was in elementary. My husband and I liked playing chess. In fact, we even played chess during our courtship stage. haha

Thus, it was natural for us to introduce chess to our kids. probably almost two years ago, we did just that and we were delighted that our kids liked the game. Suddenly, we found a new bonding activity with our two older kids. Our youngest who was four years old at that time learned to play chess as well. But he was not yet emotionally ready for the game because he would cry or get angry when his pieces get captured or when he loses the game.

Then, late last year, we found out that there’s a chess tournament in our city. We contacted the organizers and inquired. We hired chess coaches for our kids days before their very first chess tournament.

We just wanted our kids to experience how it is to join a chess tournament. We didn’t expect them to win an award or a medal.

But to our surprise, my then 7-year-old child placed second in his age group! He was elated and encouraged to continue and pursue the sport!

Our eldest didn’t get a medal because there were many players already in his age group and he was unrated or inexperienced compared to most of the players in that tournament. But he also enjoyed the tournament and wanted to join again.

Since that time, I had been on the lookout for more chess tournaments nearby or in Metro Manila. We continued their coaching sessions with their chess coach.

Then, we had a problem contacting their chess coach again. It was a good thing that I have joined chess groups on Facebook and met new friends through the chess tournaments that we joined. This prompted me to ask for advice from our new friends in the chess community. We were blessed to recommended a very good and passionate chess coach. He is also the chess coach of some of the top junior players in the country.

With his guidance, our boys learned more about chess and they became more prepared for the chess tournaments that they joined.

The kids joined 7 chess tournaments this year! Almost all of these tournaments were held in Metro Manila except for one which was held in Batangas. In all these chess tournaments, we all went as a family. It was part of our family bonding and it was like a family outing or field trip as well.

The boys have won medals in most of the chess tournaments they joined, especially my second child, Mateo. Their new chess coach says that he is very tactical and has a big potential in the sport. But more importantly, they enjoyed competing in chess tournaments and meeting fellow chess lovers. Imagine, even if they play chess the whole day with 5-7 rounds, they still want to play chess in between! My husband and I would encourage them to relax their brains in between rounds by doing art activities, drawing or doodling, writing, reading or playing.

I’m so glad and grateful that my husband and I taught our kids chess. They have found a sport that they love and where they have the potential to excel. Moreover, chess has many benefits. It teaches kids a number of lessons or values like thinking first before acting or moving, planning, analysis, patience, being a good sport, and perseverance. It also helps kids to have longer attention spans and teaches them to sit still and be quiet for longer time periods.

I’m also grateful that we found chess coaches for them and tournaments that they can join. I thank God also for providing for us the means to let them join tournaments and to hire a chess coach for them. It’s expensive to regularly join tournaments. Parents not only spend on tournament registration fees. We also need to spend on transportation and food expenses. On top of that, if you want your child to get better, you need to hire a chess coach or enroll the child in a chess clinic or class continuously.

Recently, my second child counted his chess medals and according to him, he already has 5. He was so happy because he really loves playing chess. I felt happy also for him because his efforts had been rewarded and because of this, he wants to persevere. His older brother now has 3 medals in chess. he also wants to continue playing competitive chess and hopes to join future tournaments.

I pray that God would continue to provide for our family the means to enable us to hone our children’s skill in playing chess so they could reach their peak and achieve their dream of winning in more tournaments and if God wills it to become future chess grandmasters like their idols GM Eugene Torre and GM Wesley So. They have already met GM Eugene Torre. I hope they would also meet GM Wesley So someday.

My heart is filled with thanksgiving for the past year for our many blessings in our homeschool. Chess was one of those blessings and answered prayers.

We look forward to joining more chess tournaments. We also hope that our kids would one day in the future bring glory and honor to our country and to God by winning medals in international tournaments if God wills it.

Do you want your child to meet other kids who like to play chess? Are you also homeschooling? I invite you to join our group called Homeschoolers Chess Club. I also hope we meet you and your child/children in future chess tournaments or chess playdates.