Taking up your kid’s hobby: ‘He opens up, he tells me he loves me’

Auckland-based midwife Sandy Wen is not just a mother to teenage chess player Luna Lu, who competes internationally in tournaments. She’s her comrade, her supporter, her teacher, her competitor and team player.

When Luna became intrigued by chess pieces at the age of eight during the Covid-19 pandemic, Wen naturally began learning alongside her daughter to help her, finding her own joy in it too.

In those days, they would play up to 10 games a day together, with Wen relying on her knowledge of Chinese chess.