An Interview with BCS Alumnus David Petty
Popular BCS instructor David Petty started out as a Berkeley Chess School student. He talks about his memories of that time and what inspired him to become a teacher:
When did you start playing chess?
At age 5 or 6. We were on a family vacation at Lake Tahoe. My brother is a year and a half younger and we played together and really liked it! When we came home my mother signed me up for a chess class with the Berkeley Chess School. They brought a wonderful chess teacher - Robert Haines - to Kensington; over the course of my career we were winning first place in our year-end tournaments.
How did Robert help you?
Robert was a very dedicated teacher. He realized I was exceptionally interested in the game and so he'd come with us to tournaments off the clock to go over games and provide moral support.
And you continued in high school?
I'd stopped playing in middle school, but when I got to high school some of the friends I'd made there hunted me down because they needed a fourth player for the chess team. [Ed: At the time BCS was teaching at Berkeley High School.]
How did that go?
We won state my freshman year. I was the worst player on the team as a freshman, but by the time I was a senior, I was captain of the team. We won the state tournament that year, too.
When I was a kid I was a really aggressive player and an attacker, but when I stopped playing in middle school I lost some of that. So in high school my teammates were asking, "What happened to the David Petty I knew? I want that David Petty to play on my team!" But I had become more of a solid player and played modestly.
What's your favorite memory of that time?
When I was nine or ten years old I started playing in the People's Tournament held each year on the UC Berkeley campus. We'd play chess all day for three days straight. It was great!
What made you decide to start teaching chess?
When I was working in the BCS office after high school, I was asked to sit in on a summer camp class taught by Richard Shorman. I saw these amazing chess games that were all about attacking and beauty and it inspired me to [get back into chess]. Later, Elizabeth asked, "Why don't you teach for us?"
How does chess help kids?
I think chess is very good for teaching kids how to have a logical thought process. It helps you organize your thoughts and analyze the consequences of your actions. We teach the touch-move rule: "no take-backsies!". And kids love the game - it's fun to devote your time to and focus on. They said I had ADD (attention deficit disorder) but I would sit like a statue and play for five hours.
Chess is a centuries-old game. Why does it still fascinate people?
Because chess is very deep. You don't keep on playing tic-tac-toe [as you get older], but chess continues to challenge your mind. Each generation improves and refines the positions and combinations of the game. Paul Morphy (1837-1884) was the greatest player of his time, but a player at my level might be able to beat him today because we've learned the lessons of the past.