The Queen
You might have seen The Queen’s Gambit Netflix series or at least have heard about it.
My mentor and peer coaches, who know that I’m a Chess player and teacher, with a “chess pawn to queen” life coaching model, a public speaking champion of the “Chess Pawn” piece, expected that the series had helped me, and I took advantage of it.
When I heard it first, I just shrugged my shoulders. But, hearing it, again and again, I realized that I may be missing something.
I started playing chess since I was ten years old. Chess saved my face when I was in elementary and high school. Briefly explained in the video below.
2008 in Bermuda — I revived playing Chess because I would like to improve my English speaking skills. An article I came across suggested that I should join an organization to practice speaking the language. Since the only sports I know is Chess, I joined the Bermuda Chess group. I found out about Toastmasters as Bermuda Chess Group and Bermuda Toastmasters meet in the same place, same day!
Due to the economic crisis, I relocated to the USA in 2009, so I stopped Chess and Toastmasters.
Then, I relocated to Hong Kong in 2010. I picked up Toastmasters and no intention at all to pick up Chess.
Feb 2018 — I was crafting my Chess Pawn speech for Toastmasters International and JCI Public Speaking Championship 2018 contests when I got an email from the Bermuda Chess Association group. They were inviting me to join the Women’s Team for the Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia.
Let me briefly explain how it works in other countries to become part of the Chess Olympiad. Like a Toastmaster speech contest, you have to win at various levels. In the Philippines, the representatives are all equipped with titles of Chess Master. In Bermuda, as far as I know, only two women joined the Chess Association until 2009. One was an Accountant in Bermuda and now based in Slovakia. The other one was me! Automatically, we would become part of the team even if there were no contests, and it doesn’t matter if we were still playing Chess or not.
Last year, my long-time dream to publish a book came true. And the title is Pawn to Queen: Life’s Chess and Quest.
Now, I’m teaching Chess — the game and the lesson!
If the series had helped me or not, maybe it had.
All I know is that everything is connected.
It’s like in Chess that the squares, moves, and pieces are connected. And sometimes, something is going on, but you will only see it when you or your opponent says, “Checkmate!”
