A Brief History
THE CHESS MAN
aka
Alex Davies
Alex has been playing chess for a very long time, and has been coaching & teaching children how to play the game for a very long time as well.
For 27 years, he has been working with and teaching children. His history is based around bettering the lives of children around the world.
Early Childhood Sunday school teacher
In the late 1990's, Alex began working with and teaching children.
He volunteered in an elementary school, served as a Sunday school teacher (for more than 20 years), worked as a camp counselor, and taught KinderGym at the YMCA, among many other roles.
In the early 2000's, he began teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). His journey took him to China, then Indonesia, followed by Guatemala, and finally in the Galápagos Islands in Ecuador.
In 2007, he founded the Summerside Chess Club. While the original club was open to both children & adults, it's primary focus was on children.
5 year olds class
Trinity United Church
During the 2010's, while he was in Canada, he dedicated a significant amount of his time to coaching and promoting the Summerside Chess Club from 2007 to 2016. During this period, the club experienced growth and development.
In 2010, the Summerside Chess Club expanded its reach by setting up The Chess Table at the new Summerside Farmer's Market in the Holman Building.
One of the club's youngest members won the Under 13 PEI Provincial Chess Challenge, and went on the compete in Toronto, Ontario. In 2014, he had the opportunity to mentor this same boy for confirmation.
TTEGA CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
From 2013 to 2018, he spent approximately 6 to 10 months of each year living and working in Uganda , East Africa. Although English is one of the 3 national languages spoken in Uganda (along with Luganda and Swahili), he was not an ESL teacher. Instead, he lived and worked in an orphanage, which served as a children's home, a school, and a church.
He fulfilled the role of caregiver, looking after all of the children at the orphanage (both boys and girls), but was mainly the Boy's Dorm Supervisor. Additionally, he was a school teacher and, over the course of 6 years, he taught every subject, at every grade level, with a particular focus on primary 2 (grade 2). He developed, implemented & taught the Reading & Writing Curriculum for all grade levels, as well as a Computers Curriculum for the Upper School (primary 4, primary 5, primary 6 and primary 7)... even though the orphanage didn't have any computers... so this was taught as computer theory.
Since the orphanage church didn't have a Sunday school, he wrote a Sunday School curriculum and took on the roles of Sunday school superintendent and Upper School Sunday school teacher.
He also funded swimming lessons for several children who boarded at the orphanage.
In 2015, he spent 3 months in South-Western Uganda (near the borders with the DRC and Rwanda) filling in for the primary 4 teacher, who was on maternity leave. He then returned to Ttega Child Development Centre, and continued from where he had left off.
In 2016, he experienced a reaffirmation of his faith. He was baptized as a baby in the 70's into the United Church of Canada, but was baptized as adult into the Born Again Church of Uganda.
During the 2017 end-of-the-year orphanage ChRiStMaS party, he played the role of Father Christmas (Santa Claus).
He also taught the entire orphanage, including a few of the teacher's, how to play chess.
In 2018, he returned to Canada,.
The Children's Home
the orphanage
My P2 (grade 2) class
the school
Praying for the new church building
the church
Upper School Sunday school
school classroom
Boys Dorm
the orphanage
The Playground
the school
Homeschooling during the Covid lockdown
Covered in KY Cream for chicken pox
Posing on the swing
Posing outside of the chicken coop
Stretching my track pants
Riding bicycles in the compound
LOVE UGANDA ORPHANAGE
In early January 2019, he returned to Uganda , this time for a more permanent stay. He didn't return to the orphanage where he had worked before. Instead, he moved to a different orphanage in a different part of the country. This orphanage is only a children's home. The children attend a local school and a local church.
When Alex first arrived, the orphanage was in bad shape. The orphanage manager physically and emotionally abused the children. He treated them like slaves and was prone to beating them. He wrote a complaint letter, and the orphanage manager was fired after a thorough (internal) investigation.
In January, the orphanage had 3 primary caregivers, 1 security guard, multiple Foundation employees, and 19 children.
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In February, 1 of the 3 primary caregivers went back to University.
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In March, 1 of the 2 remaining primary caregivers left the orphanage to "live her life" (her words).
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In March, the security guard was fired (so Alex took on the added responsibility of the security guard).
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There was now only 1 cook, and 1 primary caregiver... Alex.
In April 2019, all of the orphans went home to their parents or guardians—everyone except for one 8-year-old boy. Alex was a single parent for 8 weeks. We became very close very fast. This boy was the first of the children whom he taught how to play chess.
Alex returned to Canada, for 2 weeks, in December of 2019. On December 24, he returned to the orphanage to spend ChRiStMaS with the children.
In January of 2020, he was promoted to orphanage manager. The children returned to school for 1 month (in Uganda, the school year begins in February). On March 21, President Museveni locked down Uganda. All public transportation stopped. All schooling stopped. All socializing stopped. Our only option was to live locally (he got to know his way around the community well). The children had 1 week of holiday (with no school), as on March 30, Alex began homeschooling all of them... every child, at every grade level.
In April, he contracted Sars-Cov-2, the original strain of COVID-19 (COVID 1.0). The children never knew, but the cook/mama did. She cooked him special recipes and "ginger juice" (that's what she called it). He also took doctor-prescribed medication. Within a week, it was gone. Luckily, none of the children knew or got sick.
In May, we had a chicken pox outbreak. Luckily, Alex had chicken pox when he was a little boy... so he has an immunity. The mama, however, does not. So she could not care for the children (without becoming infected herself). Following the outbreak, he became the unofficial nurse for the orphanage. We had a few malaria outbreaks, a (community-wide) measles outbreak (in 2021), and a few other diseases that plagued the children.
2021 was roughly the same as 2020. Though the country wasn't as paranoid as it had been (in 2020), with regards to Covid-19, but precautions were still taken. There was still no school... so homeschooling continued. Alex had interwoven chess into the mathematics curriculum (in 2020). Chess was now, very much, a part of every day life.
On January 10, 2022. President Musevini restarted Uganda's economy... thereby ending the 2-year lockdown.
Alex left Uganda in 2022.
What Now?
Alex returned to Canada, and in the fall of 2022, he resurrected the Summerside Chess Club. However, this time, the club is only for children (4-17year-olds). In the summer of 2022, Alex participated in a Charlottetown/UPEI Chess Club event during the first DiverseCity Festival.
In January of 2023, the Homeschool Chess Club began, and ran for 6 months (a chess club only for homeschooled children). The chess club was (originally) held at The Summerside Rotary Library, but had to move to The College of Piping & Celtic Performing Arts of Canada. In 2023, one of the chess club's youngest members won the Under 8 PEI Provincial Chess Challenge. In the spring and fall of 2023, Alex offered classes (to adults) at Summerside Community School. In 2023, one of the chess club's youngest members won the Under 8 PEI Provincial Chess Challenge. In the summer of 2023, Alex participated in a Charlottetown/UPEI Chess Club event during the first DiverseCity Festival. Also, in the summer of 2023, Alex restarted The Chess Table (open to anyone of any age and or skill level) at the Summerside Farmer's Market .
In 2024, the Summerside Chess Club continued to grow, and The Chess Table continued to grow.
Now, in 2025, the Summerside Chess Club is open every Saturday from 3pm to 5pm at the Summerside Rotary Library, downstairs in the ADL Room. The Chess Table is open every Saturday from 9am to 1pm @ the Summerside Farmer's Market. In the fall of 2025, Alex will be offering classes (to adults) at Summerside Community School.
Summerside Chess Club
Market Chess Table
What's Next?
Alex is an Educational Assistant (REA, NVCI, Autism/ABA/AAC) and has a permanent full-time teaching position at an elementary school.
He has a strong desire to return to Uganda. to start a new orphanage/children's village; marry a Ugandan and raise a family, and live there permanently. He always says that "The 3rd world is the right world for me".
While he is content in his current position, he believes that his skills would be better utilized in Africa, where he feels more secure and independent. He knows that he wasn't meant to spend his life in the 1st world. Therefore, only time will tell how long he intends to stay.