Su Lin's asthma issue was serious. Her mother, Mei Lin, took her to several doctors to consult if she was likely to grow out of it, as many kids do. Unfortunately, all the doctors said it was highly unlikely. Due to Mei Lin's illness during pregnancy, Su Lin too was born with a weak body. The asthma would flare up not only during strenuous physical activities, but also when air pollution was high, when pollen in the air exceeded the normal amounts, and even when there was smoke from fireworks. The doctors advised that the family should move to the countryside where the air was cleaner to avoid complications from frequent asthma attacks. However, this was not a solution since both Mei and her husband worked in the city as software engineers and it was difficult to get jobs in this depressed economy. Most importantly, she still hadn't given up on her hope to make Su Lin a top athlete.
One day, as Mei Lin was walking back with her daughter from the doctor's place to their small apartment in Yongshun in the Tongzhou district of Beijing, she noticed a little antiquated house in an alleyway. On a white banner printed in blue unattractive letters were the words: "Chén Nán Chess Academy." Actually, what attracted Mei weren't these words, but that she could see several boys through the glass doors of the house. These boys were sitting at long tables seemingly poring over tiny game pieces on green and white boards.
Chess...Mei Lin had heard the word but didn't really know much about it. Chess wasn't really as popular as weiqi (go) or xiangqi, so this was rather unsurprising. In recent years, the Chinese government had been putting in some effort to popularize chess, but it really had never won over weiqi and xiangqi in terms of attraction. The media also covered it only sporadically, and even then, most often in an unassuming small corner of the sports column. But that wasn't the point. Mei Lin knew that chess was also a competitive sport and if one tried really hard, even if their family did not have talent and no one was really familiar with chess, couldn't you reach the top? Moreover, chess did not require any physical activity. Su Lin could play it. Su Lin could reach the top in chess. On an impulse, Mei Lin pushed open the wooden doors and entered the "Chén Nán Chess Academy" with her daughter.