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Chess Is Alive and Well
Due to Jonathan's interest in chess, he was very eager to find opponents in El Salvador. At first we didn't know anyone who played, so he started "creating" his own by
teaching some of his young cousins to play, but as word spread that Jonathan was anxious to play, he started finding more and more
people who enjoyed the game as much as he.
One of them is his cousin Juan Antonio, an 18 year old college student. He was a worthy
opponent and pretty even with Jonathan. Another is Nelson a sort of cousin (in-law), who prefaced his first match by the words "I haven't really played in about 10 years."
Still, he hasn't forgotten much and was a worthy opponent.
As we found out there is a strong chess community in El Salvador, with clubs meeting in all the major towns. While we were there,
we went to see a chess tournament in San Salvador. Here we found a huge hall filled
with chessboards and clocks and people playing. It didn't take Jonathan
long to play a pickup game or two.
One thing that was interesting to note was that there are a lot of female players. In fact at this big event a very good-looking young girl was the champion.
The next day there were going to be some exhibition games at a major hotel, with international grand masters participating. Regretably we couldn't attend.
Jonathan also played quite a few games (around 30) with his uncle Toņo who is an excellent chess player; and Jonathan enjoyed the challege of playing him even though he never won a game (or maybe one).
Maybe when Jonathan grows more he will be a tougher challenger.
All in all, we realized that chess is still played (and well) in this small country.
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If you have any comments or questions, contact us at:
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