Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tournament honors chess master
By Paula J. Owen
CORRESPONDENT
LEOMINSTER— The city hosted the Harry Nelson Pillsbury Memorial Chess Tournament for the second year in a row and may become the permanent home for the event, which goes back more than 75 years.
The tournament is named in memory of Harry Nelson Pillsbury, the greatest chess player ever to have been born in Massachusetts, according to national tournament director George M. Mirijanian of Fitchburg.
The event is usually held in the Boston area, where Mr. Pillsbury grew up, he said, but was held in Leominster last year for the first time.
On Nov. 30, 42 top chess players competed in the tournament at the Leominster Veterans Center.
The youngest, Daniel J. Angermeier, 8, of Franklin, said it didn’t really bother him playing against some of the top chess players in the area.
“I have always played against older kids,” he said. Mr. Angermeier’s ultimate goal, he said, is to become a grandmaster.
At the Massachusetts State Scholastic Singles Championship/Spiegel Cup for children 8 and younger this spring, he won in the kindergarten-through-Grade 3 level out of 200 kids.
His mother, Jane B. Angermeier, said he has been playing chess since he was 5, when a friend from his preschool brought a chess set to school. He was also a big Harry Potter fan, she said, and was fascinated with wizard’s chess from the popular movies.
“He just loved it,” she said. “He was just like, ‘Teach me how to play.’ We bought a book and he picked it up very quickly.” From there, he entered local tournaments once a month, she said, and started a chess club at his school.
He also inspired his mother to start learning how to play. “I think it is good cognitively to keep everything working up there,” she said.
Here is the full article.
Nice event. Thanks for posting it.