Young Howell chess player nationally ranked
BY SHARON GITTLEMAN • FREE PRESS SPECIAL WRITER • March 15, 2009
Detroit Free Press – United States
Winning is totally awesome.
Just ask 10-year-old Andrew O’Doherty.
That was the Howell resident’s reaction when he learned he was ranked 28th in the United States among boys grades 3-5, after his performance in the Susan Polgar National Chess Challenge for Boys held Feb. 13-16 in Glendale, Ariz.
Chess is more than a pastime for Andrew.
“I like the strategy of it. I like how you have to use your pieces in coordination to defeat your enemy,” said Andrew, a fifth-grader at Charyl Stockwell Academy in Howell. “I want to be a grandmaster. Grandmasters get a lot of respect. They win most of their games.”
His talent, drive, commitment and love of the game could see him to his goal, said Andrew’s former chess teacher, Matthew Trujillo, a Brighton resident.
“I can see him competing on an international level one day,” Trujillo said.
While chess’ origins are mysterious — with China, India and the Arab world claiming honors as the source for the game — its attraction is plain to Trujillo.
“It’s a battle of wits, me against the other player,” Trujillo said. “The only thing that sets me apart from the other guy is if my ideas are better — how I move and position my pieces.”
Andrew’s mom, Laura O’Doherty, has had plenty of time to get used to losing games to her son.
“He started playing chess when he was 3. He started entering competitions when he was 5,” she said.
Andrew became fascinated with the game watching his father play chess on the computer.
The O’Dohertys hired Trujillo to coach their son after Andrew exhausted his parents’ knowledge of the game.
“He loves the strategy and has the imagination,” O’Doherty said. “I think in his mind, he plays out these great battles.”
The family can be found hunkered over boards with other members of their chess club, which meets at a Howell coffee shop on Monday nights.
Here is the full article.
Nice job Andrew.