Check mates Check mates (April 21, 2004)

Duveneck students find camaraderie, victory in chess

by Rachel Metz

On any given Tuesday afternoon, a dozen Duveneck Elementary School students can be found scheming strategies for enemy attacks, carefully repeating their moves and planning future victories.

They're not pint-size vigilantes plotting playground justice: Their machinations play out on a Chess board.

Part of an after-school team run by local company Success Chess, the students are having a good time and honing their skills. They won first place among kindergarten through fifth-graders in the Elementary Championship category at the CalChess State Scholastic Tournament March 20 and 21, where about 1,400 California students competed. They came in seventh last year -- and some of their players also did well individually.

One student, fifth-grader John Boyle, came in fourth out of 210 students in the Elementary Championship category. Last year, he came in 34th.

"By next year I bet you he'll be one or two," team coach Mark Shelton said, adding the student will probably be a chess grandmaster -- a title given to the world's highest-ranking players -- by the time he's 15 years old.

Boyle is more modest, confirming he'd like to be a grandmaster but not wanting to say much more. When asked if he thinks he's good at the game, Boyle answered, "For my age, I guess so."

He doesn't talk about his successes and he's unfazed by the trophies, his mom Lani said.

Though many of the kids on the team are in fifth grade, some -- like Alex Grossman -- are as young as second grade.

Grossman wasn't sure exactly how he placed individually in the tournament, though he knew it was somewhere in the 300-range out of an estimated 800 kindergarten through sixth-graders. Last year he came in 19th among kindergarten through third-graders, he said.

Grossman has been playing chess for two years.

"It's fun because you can do different moves like en passant," Grossman said with Parisian flair.

"It means 'one passing' in French," fifth-grader Matthew Heising chimed in.

Though chess often has a not-so-cool stigma attached to it, kids on the team are undaunted. They don't worry if some people think that chess is for geeks, some said.

Their coach said the boys are unaware of any such reputation and, besides, "there's no stigma attached to it here," he said.

"Chess has changed tremendously since I was in school," Shelton said.

More kids are interested in the game and there are more organized leagues and structured classes, he said.

And, as the kids attest, the tournaments are fun -- from refreshments ("the food was good," one student said) to the longer games that allow more thoughtful moves.

Kids also enjoy playing the game for a variety of reasons. Besides the fun factor, some said strategies they learn help them in school.

"You can improve your mind, especially at math," fifth-grader Evan Reed said.

On a recent Tuesday Shelton worked with students on their game while they sat in front of a hanging chess board. He manipulated oversized pieces around the board, showing students different moves and warning them to pay attention to what their opponents were doing.

"Don't castle to the queen's side unless you have a clear, decisive attack," he cautioned after repositioning a piece.

Soon it was time for the real deal -- partnered games of chess -- and boys fanned out around the room with vinyl playing mats and plastic timers. There were some girls last year, one student confirmed, but they were all fifth-graders and have since graduated to middle school. Not surprisingly, the boys don't seem to mind.

Two on the floor, several pairs around tables and a lone student using a computer chess simulation got down and dirty with opponents. Except for the occasional surge of chatter and a fight over who would play the white pieces, boys were engrossed in the game.

"What I try to do is just give them the best tools available -- 'OK, this is what you should try for' -- and then they're on their own," Shelton said.

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