Searching for … Uesgui

Searching for Bobby Fischer … In Potomac?

Churchill sophomore takes on international chess competitions
By Christine Brown/The Almanac
July 18, 2007

Shinsaku Uesgui learned the value of locking up a college scholarship nice and early. As the winner of the Maryland State Scholastic Chess Championship three years ago, he defeated all of the Maryland high-school chess players in the tournament. His victory won him a full scholarship to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Uesugi was in seventh grade.

Now 14 years old and a rising sophomore at Winston Churchill High School, Uesugi is becoming an global-scale threat in chess. He attained the rank of Master chess player in the past year, and due to his dual citizenship in the United States and Japan, Uesugi competed in Japan’s 40th National Chess Championship in May. When he won the 39-player tournament, he became the youngest Japan National Chess Champion in history.

“I like thinking about the complicated chess positions, it’s very interesting,” said Uesugi about his passion for the game of chess. “HE IS VERY good in his tactics and strategies and a very good fighter in tournaments,” said longtime coach Victor Sherman. “He always wants to win.”

Sherman has worked with Uesugi since he joined the Beverly Farms Elementary School chess club in the 4th grade, a year after he moved to America from Japan.

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