600+ compete in MSU

Published February 3, 2008[ From Lansing State Journal ]
Grandmasters in the making: Kids compete in chess tourney
MSU championships draw 600-plus from Mich. elementaries
Yvette Lanier
Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – Joy Chen has made 60-year-olds cry during a game of chess.

“She keeps them scared,” said Chen’s mom, Lindsey Chen.

And Joy’s only 7 years old.

Not even a 105-degree fever could keep Joy, a student at Martin Luther King Elementary in Ann Arbor, away Saturday from competing in the Michigan Chess Association 2008 Elementary/Primary Team Championships, held at the MSU Union.

“She woke up and said, ‘I feel good. I want to play,’ ” Joy’s mom said, waiting for her daughter to begin her next match. “I’ve been taking her temperature all day.”

Joy wasn’t the only one itching to yell, “checkmate.”

More than 600 students from across Michigan, among the best players in the state, competed against each other for coveted trophies or medals. The results of the contest were not immediately available Saturday evening.

Here is the full article.