hess Masters

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

The Baron often liked to walk around the parks of Lilliland to watch the children at play and to reflect in his heart about the future of his beloved country. He wanted his homeland to be the kind of place that when children grew up they would want to stay in Lilliland.

On one of his walks around the parks he noticed that they young people played checkers and the elderly people played chess. It was almost an unwritten rule that the game of chess was strictly for the older folks.

When the Baron was growing up, his tutor Professor Hamblin, who is now his chief advisor, taught both the young Baron and the young Lady Angela of Alpine Castle to play chess. He would say that the game of chess was more of a mental challenge and would better prepare them for the challenges they would face in life after reaching adulthood. He spoke well of checkers but liked chess much better.

The Baron wanted the young people in the park to play chess but he was not very successful in persuading them until one day a letter came to Lilliland Castle.

The letter asked the Baron if Lilliland would be willing to host the International Chess Masters Tournament later that year. The Baron sent a reply and said that it would be a fine idea and he would look forward to the tournament. All of the events would be held in the conference hall at the Lilliland Grand Hotel. When Lady Angela heard the news she was also very pleased and excited about the upcoming event.

The Baron thought that if an international chess tournament was going to be held here in Lilliland it might create more interest with the young checkers players to take up the game of chess and learning the game now would help them to understand what they were watching. The Baron made sure that there were sufficient seats for the young people to see the tournament. After the tournament, the Baron hosted a special reception at Lilliland Castle for the tournament players and the youngsters had a chance to speak with some of the champion chess players from other countries.

The whole event had been a huge success and everyone had an enjoyable time.

Three months after the tournament, as the Baron walked around the parks he noticed that some of the young people were still playing checkers, but there was a larger group now playing chess as well. Maybe someday the parks of Lilliland would produce a new chess master.