Radio Reflections on Chess, Children, and Character

South Bend area chess player and higher ed blogger Ken Smith (not that Ken Smith) occasionally writes radio essays for our local NPR radio station, and this Friday his essay offered reflections arising from the local chess scene. The punchline comes at the end, when he writes that "[w]hen you watch them [chess-playing pre-teens], you get the impression that some of them may already know that chess, like life, is about character."

I think he's overly optimistic about the value of chess and its role in shaping those kids' characters, but I think Ken does a nice job of presenting something of our game, in an attractive way, to the "gentiles" - something all of us with access to media should do from time to time, if only to combat the negative images out there.

Thanks, Ken!