Ray Robson became a Grandmaster early, before he was fifteen years old – earlier than any other American chess player did, including Bobby Fischer.  Chess Child is the story of this journey, as told by his father, Gary Robson – a hardly a “life story” yet, given Ray’s youth.

Born in Guam, the GM-to-be has grown up in Florida – not at all the epicenter of chess play in the United States; he was hardly born with a silver pawn in his hand.  Chess Child tells of Ray’s early apparent giftedness and very early interest in chess.  As Ray’s skills improve, he moves from playing games against his father to competing in scholastic tournaments to facing older players (i.e. teenagers and up) in open tournaments – to tournaments outside the United States, where he can earn International Master, and later, Grandmaster norms.

Along the way there are the coaches who are helpful, but who inevitably must give way to the next stage of Ray’s chess education.  There are opponents who are friendly and those who are not-so-friendly, as well as the dreaded “chess parents” (think: Searching For Bobby Fischer, the book as well as the movie) that are the inevitable accompaniment of chess play when it transitions from “fun” to “serious.”

How does the young man Gary experience Ray’s entry into his and his wife, Yee-chen’s, life?

The need for her to have a child eventually grew so strong that, by the middle of our first year in Guam, it was no longer just a thought; instead, it became the main goal of her life.  And so we had a son.

Whoa… Is that beginning to sound like one of the distressing chess profiles in Zhivko Kaikamjozov’s The Genius and the Misery of Chess ?

Hardly.  Above all else, and its greatest, transcendent, strength, Chess Child is the story about a father’s love for his son, and the lengths that he will go to help, guide, support and buffer the growing boy in his quest to be as good as he can be in something that he shows great promise for.

Perhaps chess parents will page through this book looking for Gary’s “secrets” for raising a chess genius.  (There is very little concrete “chess content” as it applies to, say, playing the Najdorf Sicilian or finessing the Catalan Opening.)  Let me be a spoiler: kind, loving words; walks and talks; throwing the football around, wrestling and having fun.  Most of all: sharing a sense of perspective.

Sure, Ray has the occasional Grandmaster tutor (including some group study sessions with Gary Kasparov), and he has computer chess programs to work with – but you could have guessed that, right?

It is impressive how little of Chess Child is negative, and how little of that is personal.  The author is not out to settle scores, right wrongs, dish dirt.  He is too busy for that.

I once thought that by having a child, I would give up any chance of interesting travel and an interesting life outside of the family.  It is, however, because of Ray that we have explored Brazilian beaches, visited the museums of Paris, trekked over Swiss Alps, bathe outdoors in steaming water in Iceland, swum with penguins around the Galapagos Islands, and enjoyed the scenery of the most beautiful place on earth in Tromsø.  And that is just the travel part.

The other, more important, part involved having another human being in my life who I could so closely connect with, admire, teach, and support.  If every action and decision that I made brought me to where I am now, then I must have a charmed life.  Regrets?  Not a single one.

Chess Child is a well-written, well laid out, self-published tale that turns out to be an intriguing grabber of a book.  It should appeal to anyone interested in a story about raising a chess player, raising this particular Grandmaster, or just raising a really neat child.  As the dad to three “Kennedy Kids” (none of whom will get anywhere near master level), I loved all of those perspectives.

From the Publisher's website:

• About the author: Dr. Gary Robson started his career in education as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines.  Between 1987 and 1996, he taught K-12 students and trained teachers in Asia and Micronesia.  Since 1996, Dr. Robson has worked in various educational settings within the United States.  Although his area of expertise is ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), he has worked with a variety of students and has taught multiple subjects in a number of settings.  Chess Child is his first book.
   

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