Hip to be square

CHESS is a quiet game – unless played at a children’s chess tournament.

The two-day state finals at Monash University’s Clayton campus kicked off yesterday with more than 55 schools and nearly 350 students participating. The top four schools will go on to the national finals.

Since the Chess Kids competition began in 2002, founder David Cordover said more kids were joining every year. He estimates one-third of all schools in Victoria have a chess club or team.

”Neighbouring schools hear what’s going on and they decide to start their own chess team or club,” Mr Cordover said. ”This is their sport.”

That is certainly true for Deepdene Primary student Karl Zelesco.

The 12-year-old chess whiz has only been playing for five years but was the top player of the day in Clayton. Next month Karl will travel to Brazil to represent Australia in the World Youth Chess Championships.

”Every game is different, so it’s complicated and interesting,” Karl said.

The youngest player of the day, Yoni Chul, just turned seven.

Yoni had to count on his fingers to know how long he has played chess (four years), but knew without hesitation his favourite part of the game. ”Winning!” he said with a smile.

Source: http://www.theage.com.au