The Washington Post has an interesting article on the use of chess in Washington D.C. to promote to inner city kids the idea of strategic struggle. Highschool freshman Marte Garner understands the game as a metaphor for life.
“I’m a pawn,” he says happily a few days earlier. “A pawn has power. You can never tell what a pawn will do next. A pawn can take anybody on the board.”
“I would — what do you call that word? — sacrifice myself for my family,” says the 15-year-old. “If my mother was in danger, I would put myself in front of her so she doesn’t get hurt. I would sacrifice myself for my mother.” And he is adamant that his mother is the king, the most important piece on the board, not the queen. Without the king, the game is over.
Reminds me of scenes from the first season of The Wire where D’Angelo is explaining the game to his crew in the low-rises and laying it out as a metaphor for their lives as drug dealers.
