It gives the kids a touch of reality

Battles of wits: Clio youth prepare for chess tournament
By Flint Journal staff
November 15, 2009, 3:09AM

CLIO — The Clio sports teams aren’t the only ones training for big tournaments.

Since the beginning of the school year, the Knight Stalkers have been training for the 2009 National Youth Action, a chess tournament in Oakbrook, Ill., this weekend.

Of the 100 youths on the team, 24 will be competing in a speed chess tournament. Each competitor gets 30 minutes on their chess clock, making the game an hour long at most. There are two rounds, nine games and no eliminations. Awards are presented to the top 25 students based on those games.

“It’s just as difficult to become a national champion in chess as it is to become a national champion in wrestling,” said district chess coach Gene Hickey.

It’s different than wrestling or other competitive physical competitions because all the age groups compete against each other, he said. In wrestling, for example, athletes are divided by weight class.

Hickey, who coaches chess for the entire district, estimated that the students will compete against 1,000 other national students, ranging from kindergarten through 12th grade.

“It’s a reward for being involved in the chess program,” he said about the trip. “It gives the kids a touch of reality. They get to see that there’s really fabulous chess players in the world. Plus, it gives us a gauge to see where our kids stand against others in the country.”

Here is the full article.