I was a counselor at Emory's Castle Chess Camp in June, and I took my Gothic board and pieces with me. The kids LOVED the game, and it would often be played for hours after class. IMs Jon Schroer and Jim Mundy also had played (and enjoyed) the game. I played FM Andrew Whatley 3 blitz games; I "won" the first one -- he had played before, but he was getting his "gothic legs" back. The second game, he slaughtered me; but game 3 I played more aggressively, and though I lost on time, he admired the mate in 2 I had on the board.

As for the kids, a good many of them wanted to play--we decided 7 min/game with 3 sec/move delay would give them plenty of time, but would keep the board open to new players.

The thing I did not foresee was that the kids wanted to use my board as one of the boards for a bughouse game, with one 8x10 board, and one 8x8 board, with the gothic pieces dropping in and out of both boards as they were captured. They would scream in delight as the chancellor and archbishop changed hands. Other counselors came running at one point because they thought some kids were fighting, but they were yelling and screaming and laughing because of the predicaments the knighted-bishops and knighted-rooks were giving both teams. It was hilarious. One player, David M., age 10, said it was "the future of chess." Several kids agreed. I wanted two of the GMs to play one another, and they were for it--but classes ran so long, and we packed so much into the week, that I couldn't ever get them all together. But I wrote down your website several times for the kids and for the counselors too. I hope the exposure sends some business to some eager chess fans; the kids really loved the game, and some of the counselors suggested that I bring more boards next year to have a gothic tournament there. I figured I could be a bird on your windowsill, GM--had I known I was going to particpate in this camp earlier, I would have suggested it to the organizers this year. But it is held in June here in Atlanta, usually the first week.

Hope for the future.

I took some pics with the kids playing on the gothic board.

Ed and 8x10 fans, I wish you could have seen the "Gothic bughouse". Never have I seen kids have such a good time. I played a couple of times -- it made my head hurt. ;-)

But fun it was indeed.

Good job, Ed. Your work made a lot of kids happy 2 weeks ago.