Youthful chess fans square off
200 students compete for state honors, fun
BY JILLIAN DALEY
Statesman Journal
March 25, 2007
Carson and Dana Hannibal of Salem look at chess in different ways.
“It’s like a tapestry,” said Dana, 12, a sixth-grader at Crossler Middle School. “All the pieces are weaving together to make something beautiful.”
“The chess board’s like a coordinate grid,” said Carson, 13, a Crossler seventh-grader and Dana’s brother.
Yet however they approach it, one thing is sure: They play a mean game of chess. Carson competes against high-schoolers, and Dana is ranked No. 52 in the nation for girls younger than 13.
They were two in a sea of about 200 youths from across the state in kindergarten through 12th grade to compete Saturday in the second annual Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation State Championship at the State Fairgrounds.
Here is the full report.
Oregon has really struck on a great formula for promoting scholastic chess. They make it very straightforward, easy, painless, and inexpensive to set up rated games and tournaments. Kids do not need to pay a membership fee to be a member of OSCF yet they still receive the benefits of ratings, tournaments, recognition, etc. Kudos to Amy Coughlin and the rest of the OSCF team.
Does anyone have some words of wisdom for my 11 year old son? He played in the Oregon state championship tournament on Saturday?
In his first game, he outplayed his opponent and was in the process of wrapping up the game when his opponent came up with the stunning pawn move f3 to f5 to win his pinned rook (and the game a few moves later). My son didn’t notice that the move was illegal until afterwards.
In his second game he confidently traded off pieces because he knew it was a won endgame. A few moves later, his opponent announced “stalemate” in the following position: 8/p5p1/p5p1/4k1Kp/2p4P/2P5/2P5/8 w – – 0 35. They recorded the game as a draw. The only problem is that the position is NOT a stalemate at all but an easy win for black.
After getting winning positions in his first two games, he came out with only 0.5/2 because of an illegal move and a non-stalemate “stalemate”. After that he was crushed and wanted to go home, but he ended up finishing the tournament anyway (with some encouragement and a doughnut from his dad and an interview with a newspaper reporter).
What do you tell a kid after such heartbreaking games?
Dan,
This happens quite often in scholastic events. This was a good lesson for him. Just tell him you are very proud of him for finishing the tournament. That shows that he is a fighter and winner because winners never quite.
In addition, tell him that never ever take his opponent’s word for it. Always double, triple and quadruple check before he shakes hands and agree to a result.
Good luck!
Susan Polgar
http://www.PolgarChess.com