Chess Pavilion

North Avenue Beach has always been my favorite beach in Chicago. As a boy, I loved going there because of the beach and the swimming. Then, as I grew up a little, the field house that resembled a ship caught my attention. I loved riding my bike all around it. Finally, as a teenager, I noticed the Chess Pavilion. I rode my bike past it many times before, but I never noticed the chessboards embedded in the concrete there until I started playing chess in high school. Usually, when we went to the beach, no one was playing chess anyway. The Chess Pavilion was made entirely of concrete with a concrete canopy where we went when it rained. Once I started playing chess, I would bring my chess set to the beach with me. When I was in high school, I rode my bike all the way from the south side to the Chess Pavilion several times just to play chess. When I got my first car, I used to love driving up and down Lake Shore Drive just for the fun of it. My favorite part of LSD was near North Avenue Beach because I could see the Chess Pavilion as I drove by. Once I was on a first date and I took her on my favorite drive up and down LSD. Finally, she asked to stop somewhere on the lakefront. I was sure she wanted to see the world famous Lake Michigan submarine races. Anyway, I immediately thought of going to the Chess Pavilion with her. Too bad that I didn’t have a chess set with me so I could test her intelligence as long as I was sizing her up as a prospective prospect. So we park and we start walking. “Where are you taking me?” she asked. “I know the perfect place to watch the submarine races,” I said. We walked to the Chess Pavilion and sat on the chessboards. The night was clear but very cool and damp, but we had a beautiful view of the Chicago skyline. After a while, she was cold from sitting on the concrete, so she sat on my lap. Well, I couldn’t have planned the evening any better!