Chess whiz

Teen with ‘chess fever’ has all the right moves
May 28, 2007
By MELISSA FLETCHER STOELTJE
San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO — In a sparsely furnished room inside the Lions Field Adult Center here, men sit around long tables, their brows knit in concentration, playing chess.

The only sound is the tap of the men’s hands on the timers, signaling it’s their opponent’s move. This is blitz chess, in which players have five minutes to rule the board.

One of the players is 18-year-old Jesse James Lozano, who in his T-shirt and faded jeans is the youngest player at the weekly meeting of the San Antonio Chess Club. He’s a mild-mannered, unassuming young man; from his low-key demeanor, you wouldn’t know he’s something of a natural chess whiz. In the living room of his family’s home, a mantel groans with the weight of more than 20 chess trophies and plaques.

But his playing tells the tale.

“I won,” he says with a slight smile, gathering up the chess pieces after he’s beaten his opponent, Selby Anderson, 52, president of the club.

Lozano’s skill on the board has snagged him some prestigious awards, including first place for the past two years in the regional Texas Scholastic Chess Championship, which involves school districts in San Antonio and Austin.

Last February, he won the Susan Polgar National Chess Challenge for Boys in Corpus Christi; the prize for that feat was a four-year scholarship to Texas A&M University-Kingsville.

He and his adult teammates won a trophy at the prestigious Texas Team Championship, a statewide contest. Lozano has also beaten both the Corpus Christi and San Antonio city chess champions.

He’s won more than $2,000 on the adult chess circuit and has held his own against a 9-year-old FIDE master (a high ranking granted by the International Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French initials, FIDE). His mother, Diane Lozano, likes to show a thick binder that holds a compendium of her son’s various chess conquests.

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