Just a moment of your time, please.

[RJN]

Sorry to hear this, but a nice story of how that $1 seed grew into something wonderful.

[pilgrimdan]

Just a moment of your time, please.

It was back in 1967 when I was a ten year old and my father James introduced me to chess. We were on vacation in Yellowstone National Park and he had given me a dollar to spend at a souvenir store where I bought a small peg chess set made from green and white plastic. Somehow I was able to figure out how to play from the tiny instruction manual, although I think I skipped the parts about castling and en passant. I was unable to decipher the descriptive chess notation rules.

One thing led to another, and my dad's dollar and forethought is what led to several open source chess programs, SAN/FEN/EPD/PGN, the first public tablebase generator, and other free chess stuff.

My father passed away last night. If you've benefited in any way by what he started long ago, please give a moment's thought of appreciation for him and his gift to me.

thanks for sharing Steven... may your Dad rest in peace...

[Daniel Anulliero]

I learned the chess game by my brother, who died in 1998 . We played without à real chess board but with draughts pawns for pawns , dices for rooks , knights of "knights games" and so on
Good old time ...
Sorry for your loss
Courage

[stegemma]

We all are just leaves on the tree of life. When we lose our root, we need family and friends to avoid fighting away or falling down. I've lost my father some years ago me too and only us can know the emptiness that we feel. Even from far away, I'm near to you and to anybody remembering his gone parents.

[cdani]

I'm sorry for your loss also Steven.

[Norm Pollock]

May your Dad rest in peace. My condolences.

[Adam Hair]

Just a moment of your time, please.

It was back in 1967 when I was a ten year old and my father James introduced me to chess. We were on vacation in Yellowstone National Park and he had given me a dollar to spend at a souvenir store where I bought a small peg chess set made from green and white plastic. Somehow I was able to figure out how to play from the tiny instruction manual, although I think I skipped the parts about castling and en passant. I was unable to decipher the descriptive chess notation rules.

One thing led to another, and my dad's dollar and forethought is what led to several open source chess programs, SAN/FEN/EPD/PGN, the first public tablebase generator, and other free chess stuff.

My father passed away last night. If you've benefited in any way by what he started long ago, please give a moment's thought of appreciation for him and his gift to me.

I am sorry for your loss Steven. I have benefitted from some of the things you have done, and thus I am grateful to your father.

[Dan Honeycutt]

Sad news. Good you have the fond memories to keep with you.

Best
Dan H.

[fern]

Please receive my condolences. I feel a sense of loss with any guy of my generation or near it that abandon this world. I am 67 and so I am feeling that too many times lately. I take this chance to thank you for your stuff, Steve. Surely your father was a smart and wise man if he introduced you to chess. These days fathers only know to give electronic trash.
a hug
Fern

[Eelco de Groot]

I am sorry to hear of your loss Steven.

I also learned chess from my father but it was more indirectly, from all the chess books that he left. He had been a much better chessplayer than I ever will be, so I don't know if I would have liked chess as much if I had learned chess playing against him. Now I had to do with all the books from Max Euwe. Thirteen books just covering all the possible openings for instance. One book in particular was useful in the beginning, printed just after the war on terrible quality paper, Complete Manual for Chess, 'Volledige Handleiding voor het Schaakspel'.

It survives to this day, a little battered and torn. There also was a selfmade chess board, literally made of board with the squares drawn on it with black Indian ink. It seems that was the only chess board my father had, very Zen. I still got that as well, and the two sets of chess pieces. But I must confess, I got a better, real inlaid wood chess board later, that I much prefer to the hardboard...

I recognize something of the travel chess set you and Robert mention, I got one as well, the top transparent and bottom was green plastic. A classmate refused to play on it because the bishops were very easy to mistake for pawns, but I had remedied that; the bishop had a small round marking on top of its mitre that I had filled with some water paint, white for the black and black for the white bishops. Now it was okay to play. Most of my chess education was playing with that little set, solving the problems from "Jeugdschaak", also at my grandparents home during the vacations. I did play with my grandfather, from my mother's side! Got soundly beaten by him also... The genes for chess were there, that's for sure!

My condolences to you and your family.