Jesus said
"The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath"
Mark 2 v 27
CHESS IN CHINA—Hannah Dale reports
As many readers know, I had the privilege of playing chess in Beijing in last October, as a being a member of the England women’s team in the World Mind Sports Games. This was a great honour, and completely unexpected. There are other players stronger than me, but they were unable to go, and so I was selected.
The Games were held in the same venue as the Olympics; it is hoped one day that chess will be included in the Olympics!
I played in two tournaments—the Blitz (3 minutes each plus 2 seconds every time you played a move) and the Rapidplay (25 minutes + 5 seconds a move). I scored 5½ /11 in the first and 3/9 in the second, against some of the best players in the world—including a win against one woman who was Austrian Champion in the year I was born!
I was also able to visit the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace and, of course, the Great Wall. My trip to the Wall was rather more adventurous than I had expected—two members of the Men’s Team decided they wanted to go beyond the normal touristy bit—so we had a three-hour taxi drive, a cable car up the wall, a six-hour hike along it, a zip wire down, a boat ride across a river, then another three-hour taxi ride back! Let’s just say, I slept well that evening!
Some readers may be intrigued as to the Sunday situation… At first it appeared there might be a problem as the team were flying on the Sunday. But mysteriously my tickets went missing! At first I was frustrated, but then I realised the Lord’s wisdom in it as I had to be booked on a flight by myself on the Friday, giving me the Lord’s Day free! The first Sunday, not knowing where to go, I worshipped alone, but during the week, the team members looked out for a church for me. So it worked out that I managed to persuade three of the strongest atheists I have ever met to come along with me as a ‘cultural experience’. But it didn’t work out quite as I had hoped! Ushered in by a side door, we suddenly realised we had gate-crashed a Chinese wedding! We tried to look inconspicuous, but it wasn’t easy, being English and not dressed for the occasion.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for me while I was away. I had some interesting conversations with fellow team members, and can only pray that God will bless the seed that was sown.