Little chess masters

LOCAL BROTHERHOOD
Little Chess Masters
July, 2010

hey haven’t reached the living room yet, but chess trophies have found their way into every other room of the Ahram apartment in Seward Park. The culprits are Aidan and Maury who, at the tender ages of seven and eight, have amassed a huge collection of trophies from local and national tourneys.

The most revered trophy is Aidan’s third place, five-tier trophy from the May nationals in Atlanta, where nearly 400 children played in the K-1 section. Aidan won six of his seven games over three days, while second-grader Maury, playing in the K-3 section, won four out of 7 games, and also placed 12th in the blitz K-3 section.

The brothers, who have to respond daily that “No, we’re not twins, we’re 16 months apart,” are serious chess devotees.

Besides playing for their school teams (Aidan attends PS 2 and Maury is at NEST+m), they have a private coach and spend most weekends at tournaments. When Maury was four years old, his father, Joseph, taught him the Game of Kings, and Aidan was quick to catch the bug, in typical sibling rivalry. These days, the boys leave their dad behind in the dust.

The boys’ favorite website is Internet Chess Club and mom Heather says, “Disciplining is simple, I just threaten to ban ICC for a day.”

Here is the full article.