NICK MARMALEJO
a long-time chess aficionado. It is a place for Seton
students and families to hang out, sharing topics and
he believes that students can only gain by honing their
skills on the checkerboard of pawns and kings.
C
hess is an endlessly
intriguing game. My
introduction to it came at age 5,
when I watched my dad and his
brother play after dinner in the
family room during weekend or
holiday visits.
Uncle Whitey was a formidable
player and he took most of the
games against my dad, who was
also quite good. Although I was
often shooed from the room for jumping on the couch
during their chess matches, my affinity and fascination
for the game had nonetheless begun.
Soon I was begging my dad to teach me to play chess.
After he came home, tired from a long day of erecting the
steel of Chicago’s skyscrapers, I would assault him with
many requests for instruction. It wasn’t long until I had
received some basic tutelage and began setting up the
board.
For years after that, my father and I played frequently,
usually with each game ending in my defeat.
UPPING HIS GAME
However, my losing began to change in the eighth grade,
when my older friend Rob presented me with his worn-
out copy of The Complete Chess Player, written by Fred
Reinfeld, a chess master who taught the game in New York
City. He was also a prolific writer who helped popularize
chess in America during the mid-20th century.
My battered soft-cover became the gift that keeps
on giving; it was my first formal introduction to the
mysterious world of chess tactics, traps, and strategic
thinking.
The next time I played my dad after reading Reinfeld’s
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