Maine School Worker Helps Champion Chess Teams
2023-05-17
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1At a school in Hampden, Maine, David Bishop works to keep floors clean and classrooms in good shape.
2Bishop is a janitor.
3But he is also known as the coach of the chess teams at Reeds Brook Middle School and Weatherbee Elementary School.
4The middle school students who play chess with Bishop's help recently finished 8th out of 52 teams at a national competition.
5The elementary school students participated in a national event for beginning players last weekend.
6The success of both teams has some people comparing Bishop to a character from the Netflix television program, The Queen's Gambit.
7The show came out in 2020. It is about a girl who learned to play chess from the janitor at the institution where she lived.
8She went on to be a great chess player.
9Bishop said he understands why people compare him to the janitor in the television program.
10He said he enjoyed watching the show.
11But unlike the character in The Queen's Gambit, Bishop is helping a lot of young chess players -- not just one girl.
12Sometimes, the chess players beat their teacher.
13Bishop is 61. At first, he did not like losing to the children.
14 called it "humiliating and demoralizing."
15 But then he understood it was good for him to lose.
16 That meant his chess students were getting stronger.
17The children in Maine are part of a nationwide trend.
18Today, many more young people are interested in chess than were before the COVID-19 pandemic.
19Many of them started playing the game with others on the internet, using the website Chess.com.
20The website had about 1.5 million daily users in February 2020.
21By the end of 2020, it had 4.5 million users each day.
22And at the beginning of 2023, the number was up to 10 million.
23Leon Watson is a spokesperson for Chess.com.
24He called the increase "unprecedented," or never experienced before.
25Bishop said he was a good chess player as a boy but did not like to let his friends know.
26He did not want to be called a "nerd" and did not join his school's chess club.
27He wishes he had.
28But now that the game is more popular among young people, no one thinks less of chess players like Eli Marquis, who is 12.
29Marquis joined other players on a recent day at his school's library.
30All the students were either playing or watching chess.
31He said he likes the game because he is always learning.
32"You can never run out of things to learn and to practice and to do, and you can just keep on getting better as long as you practice.There's no end to it. Really," he said.
33Eddie LaRochelle, 13, said chess is like other sports where you have to work hard and practice a lot.
34However, there are some differences.
35"You don't need to work out every single day in the gym. To get stronger, you can exercise your brain with puzzles, chess and other things," he said.
36The young people said chess helps them think ahead, consider strategy and think about the effects of their decisions.
37"Chess is so good for them, and most of them don't know it," Bishop said.
38"They're just playing chess, but it's like a workout for the brain."
39Bishop said he wants to see his players get better, even if that means losing to them more often.
40He is happy to see so many young people playing the game.
41But he is concerned there are not very many girls playing.
42There is only one girl on his middle school team,
43but he hopes that will change if players start when they are younger.
44I'm Dan Friedell.
1At a school in Hampden, Maine, David Bishop works to keep floors clean and classrooms in good shape. 2Bishop is a janitor. But he is also known as the coach of the chess teams at Reeds Brook Middle School and Weatherbee Elementary School. 3The middle school students who play chess with Bishop's help recently finished 8th out of 52 teams at a national competition. The elementary school students participated in a national event for beginning players last weekend. 4The success of both teams has some people comparing Bishop to a character from the Netflix television program, The Queen's Gambit. 5The show came out in 2020. It is about a girl who learned to play chess from the janitor at the institution where she lived. She went on to be a great chess player. 6Bishop said he understands why people compare him to the janitor in the television program. He said he enjoyed watching the show. 7But unlike the character in The Queen's Gambit, Bishop is helping a lot of young chess players -- not just one girl. 8Sometimes, the chess players beat their teacher. 9Bishop is 61. At first, he did not like losing to the children. He called it "humiliating and demoralizing." But then he understood it was good for him to lose. That meant his chess students were getting stronger. 10The children in Maine are part of a nationwide trend. Today, many more young people are interested in chess than were before the COVID-19 pandemic. 11Many of them started playing the game with others on the internet, using the website Chess.com. The website had about 1.5 million daily users in February 2020. By the end of 2020, it had 4.5 million users each day. And at the beginning of 2023, the number was up to 10 million. 12Leon Watson is a spokesperson for Chess.com. He called the increase "unprecedented," or never experienced before. 13Bishop said he was a good chess player as a boy but did not like to let his friends know. He did not want to be called a "nerd" and did not join his school's chess club. 14He wishes he had. 15But now that the game is more popular among young people, no one thinks less of chess players like Eli Marquis, who is 12. Marquis joined other players on a recent day at his school's library. All the students were either playing or watching chess. 16He said he likes the game because he is always learning. 17"You can never run out of things to learn and to practice and to do, and you can just keep on getting better as long as you practice. There's no end to it. Really," he said. 18Eddie LaRochelle, 13, said chess is like other sports where you have to work hard and practice a lot. However, there are some differences. 19"You don't need to work out every single day in the gym. To get stronger, you can exercise your brain with puzzles, chess and other things," he said. 20The young people said chess helps them think ahead, consider strategy and think about the effects of their decisions. 21"Chess is so good for them, and most of them don't know it," Bishop said. "They're just playing chess, but it's like a workout for the brain." 22Bishop said he wants to see his players get better, even if that means losing to them more often. He is happy to see so many young people playing the game. But he is concerned there are not very many girls playing. There is only one girl on his middle school team, but he hopes that will change if players start when they are younger. 23I'm Dan Friedell. 24Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press. 25___________________________________________________________________ 26Words in This Story 27janitor -n. a person who cleans a building and makes minor repairs 28coach -n. a person who trains someone, often in sports but in this case, chess 29character -n. a person who appears in a story, for example in a book or television show 30humiliate -v. to make someone feel bad about themselves 31demoralize -v. to feel bad about something 32trend -n. something new that is happening often, that is currently popular 33nerd -n. a negative term for someone who is interested in technical subjects, computers, etc. 34practice -v. to repeat something over and over again under the supervision of a coach or teacher with the hopes of getting better 35puzzle -n. a game or problem that requires a lot of thought to be solved or answered 36strategy -n. a plan for achieving something over a long period of time 37_________________________________________________________________ 38We want to hear from you. Have you played our taught chess to young people? What do they think about the game? 39Here is how our comment system works: 40Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.