“Everyone should pursue his or her dreams even though it might be difficult."
Photo and text by Emma E. Petersen
Often times there is a prejudice against chess that it is a game particularly for boys and so-called “nerds.” Though it could be true, there's also Liza, a 23-year-old professional chess player who is super cool. From the day she was born, chess-blood has been flowing through her veins. She grew up in a family where both her father and grandfather played chess, and at the age of four, her father taught her the basic rules of the game.
“My father did not have the patience, so my mother took over once in a while to make sure that I understood what he had taught me; therefore my mother taught me the importance of patience while my father taught me the strategies."
Patience and strong strategic thinking have been the two compelling components of how far Liza had come with her chess career. At the age of ten, Liza was already representing Canada in the chess league. Due to the lack of sufficient financial support in Vancouver, B.C., where Liza resides, she is unable to play in the league anymore because she is unable to make a living out of it. Instead, she teaches children how to play chess and the different strategies that go along with it. What Liza like the most about chess is that it challenges her mind. Chess makes her reflect on life and the decisions she has to make.
"The strategies in the game teaches you about the number of different possibilities you have, which makes you reveal on what is happening. That can both be useful knowledge in the game but in life as well. If you come to any tuff decision in life, then you would have to think about it, and analyze and calculate what type of potential situation could happen if you make that exact move.”
Liza dropped out of college after the first year since it was never the right place for her. Her parents were unhappy with her decision, but she decided to pursue her dream of playing chess and live a happy life.
“Everyone should pursue his or her dreams even though it might be difficult. Everybody should do something they are happy about, if not, then what is it all worth in the end?”
Today Liza is a private chess teacher for children. She loves to teach and motivate the children and watch how they slowly improve their skills. The children bring much joy into Liza’s life. A joy that she probably wouldn’t have found had she stayed in college and completed an education that seemed irrelevant to her.
"It is essential to follow your intuition even though it might not be the most accepted way of doing it in order to what your surroundings expect from you. I think it is essential to have in mind, that in the end, it is your life and you are the one who should be satisfied with it."