30 March 2012
Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012
Hi everyone,
Here is a nice story of resilience and determination with chess as a motif. Nearly starving and facing extreme brutality, Jack Jennings carved each chess piece with care as he suffered in a Japanese prisoner of war camp he devoted every free moment to making the kings and pawns.
It took his mind away from his life working on the notorious Burma-Thailand death railway as scores of his friends died from abuse, disease and malnutrition. He may have only seemed like a pawn himself as war raged around the globe – but Jack was determined never to give in. And his chess set still bears testament to one man’s will to live.
Now aged 93, Jack’s story has become familiar to millions because of a new advert for the National Lottery, showing how the Big Lottery Fund helped take him back to the Far East to visit the graves of his dead comrades. You can read the full story here.
