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Man uses Game to Build Rapport

Written by Sylvain Rey

Tuesday, 08 July 2008 07:42 PM

Grand Prairie resident Taylor Eckstrom spends every Monday morning outside Preston Hall playing chess with whoever wants to play. Eckstrom learned how to play at around 12 years old and plays for fun. The Shorthorn: Laura Sliva

Chess is a game of strategy, but to Taylor Eckstrom, 23, it is a way to interact with others.

Eckstrom, a nonstudent who works full time at a local record store, spends his Monday mornings on campus in front of Preston Hall playing chess with whoever wants to.

“Chess is an international game,” Eckstrom said. “Anybody from a different language can move a piece. It is like math. It is international.”

He learned to play chess at an early age.

“I have been playing since I was in sixth grade,” he said, looking at his opponent’s pieces. “I learned from somebody, but I don’t remember who I learned it from.”

Since then, he hasn’t stopped playing, even if he was the only one.

“In eighth grade, I was president of the chess club and the only member of the club,” he said.

He started coming to the campus with his chess game on Mondays four or five months ago.

There are different sorts of reactions to this, he said. One is a joke done to him by passers-by.

“Sometimes, someone just grabs a piece, moves it and says ‘Check.’ It is rude, but it doesn’t bother me,” Eckstrom said, while moving a piece against his opponent.

Not everybody acts this way. Some simply enjoy watching the pieces move across the board.

“I just stop by and watch,” said business management sophomore Garry Morgan.

Eckstrom does not boast about his skills.

“When it comes to my skills, I am the best of the worst, and the worst of the best,” he said.

Eckstrom usually wins.

“Most people who come haven’t played for a long time,” he said, rapidly moving his bishop and defeating his opponent, biology sophomore April Gardner.

“I knew I was going to lose,” Gardner said. “I don’t play that often. Any guy sitting in the middle of campus must know what he is doing.”

But Eckstrom doesn’t play for the sake of winning or challenging others. He said he looks for something else playing chess.

“Three years ago, a friend of mine, Teddy Lee, played chess with me and talked about Jesus,” he said. “I came from not knowing Christ to knowing him. I am thankful to my friend. The primary purpose of this chessboard isn’t to play chess. It is to hang out, to enjoy something.”
Eckstrom said he seeks similar interaction through the game.

“The game is an open door to sharing what we know,” he said. “It brings people to engage their lives.”

What Eckstrom likes about chess is that it tells people to make their own decisions.

“It is not only about strategy. When you move a piece, it opens up new possibilities,” he said. “I carry a Bible with me to tell people, ’He has the right on all our decisions. He gave us an artistic freedom with free will. We should make our decision.’ ”

Therefore, Eckstrom considers that the greatest outcome of playing chess as friendship.

“If someone doesn’t know, I can teach. I can also be a competitor. I can be a friend both ways,” he said. “Chess is my way to open an avenue.”

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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 24 September 2008 03:25 PM )

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