Speaking the Language of Chess
Danielle Cicka - Associate Editor
April 28, 2010
Filed under Features
On Friday, April 17, the Westminster chess team participated in an international match against Saemmul Middle School in Korea. The tournament was held over Skype and all chess members were encouraged to participate.
“My goal was to use the ancient game of chess and the modern technology of the Internet to connect the students of WCA and Saemmul Middle School,” said Thomas Johnston, chess team coach.
It began at 7:00pm Central Time and 9:00am in Korea Standard Time. Four of Westminster chess team members got to play. Evan Miller, sophomore, played against Wonbae Kim; Harold Ellis, sophomore, played Yedam Kim; Brandon Terlouw, sophomore, played Jeongoo Kim; Aaron Miller, sophomore, played Mingyu Kim.
“The best part was the whole experience of talking with the students when they were across the world,” said Evan Miller.
There were two computers with two games being held on each. When a player wanted to move a piece, he would hold up a card with its picture on it and then say the space where he was to move it. There were a few communication difficulties both technologically and linguistically. Two of the four computers were not functioning correctly and there was some confusion as to where the pieces were located on the board, but this was resolved. Otherwise the games were played without too much difficulty due to language barriers.
“It was great to see exactly when the Korean students were excited and their reaction to each other when a move didn’t work out,” said Terlouw.
WCA won the match, though the Korean students fought hard for two hours. For many of them, it was their first chess tournament, while many of the WCA competitors had participated in several. Even so, the chess team has never participated in an international match.
“It was a chance for kids to dialogue with kids of another culture and allows the Korean students to practice their English,” said Johnston.
At one point, as Johnston handed out ice cream to the Westminster players, the Korean competitors also ate ice cream as they played. Though in different time zones, the chess match minded the basic traditions of the game.
Evan Miller did not think it was much different than a regular chess match.
“The behavior in the match was the same and the Korean students spoke English pretty well,” said Evan Miller.
There were some changes that would be made if an international match took place again.
“There needed to be more computers so that we wouldn’t have to share and more people could play,” said Aaron Miller.
In addition, Terlouw thought there should have been a more accurate way of recording the moves.
In reflection, Johnston views the match as a success.
“It turned out better than I expected. I am very happy at how it eventually came together,” said Johnston.
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