You may have seen him with his chess set at the Starbucks on Padre Island. His name is Phil Shaw and he loves teaching the art of chess to other people. But, he wasn't always a chess pro.
“Mostly chess has been just pushing the pieces around. I didn’t know anything about chess," Phil Shaw, a Padre Island neighbor also known as “the Chess Man” said.
From not knowing anything about the game, to becoming a master and a teacher for others, Phil Shaw, also known as "the Island Chess Man" is no stranger to teaching lessons and showing people the ropes.
“I was a school teacher, middle school for 32 years, most of it at CCISD, I taught sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade and ninth grade," Shaw said.
Since he retired, you can find him in his corner of the Starbucks on Padre Island where he’s been teaching different kinds of lessons than the ones he used to teach in the classroom. It's about more than just the game to Phil.
"A 10-year-old, his birthday wish, this 10-year-old boy, his birthday wish, was to play Mr. Shaw in chess," Shaw said.
It’s pretty simple. Phil uses his chess set to bond with strangers over one common passion: The game of chess!
“I could go some place like here, and somebody sees my chess board and they come up, and they want to play, and that’s just great. Meeting people from all different walks of life," Shaw said.
Most of the time, Phil is just looking for an opponent to play against. But, parents can sign their kids up for a chess lesson with Mr. Shaw for $10.
“My wife gets mad at me. She says, ‘you should charge more!’ and I said look, I’m basically having fun here, I don’t want to charge more," Shaw said.
Between all of the lessons and the matches, and win, lose, or draw, Phil has one motto.
“I never lose. I either win, or I learn," Shaw said.
For the record, island neighbors said he does win a lot of the time.
"That’s checkmate!” Shaw said.
You can find Phil at the island Starbucks every Wednesday at 5 p.m. He's always looking for new people to teach or to play against!
“But one thing I love about teaching kids chess, when there’s just like two or three of them, they love it, you know, they want to play, and they’re having fun," Shaw said.
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