Four-year-old gears up for chess challenge
MEET four-year-old Stella Cameron, a chess champ in the making who’s been busy analysing her game in preparation for the Australian Junior Chess Championships in Robina this week.
While Stella is the youngest player at the event, she’s no stranger to competition.
Mum Karen Cameron said she had encouraged Stella to learn chess more than a year ago to improve her confidence.
“It takes a while to learn but the earlier the better,” she said.
Mrs Cameron, from Melbourne, said Stella had already taken part in other junior championships as well as tournaments at a primary school level.
“I’m not hoping she wins — just that she gains more experience. That’s more important,” she said.
The competition will be held at Bond University at Varsity Lakes and continues until January 27.
More than 200 juniors will take part in the tournament which caters for boys and girls in age categories from under eight to 18.
Tournament organiser Graeme Gardiner said he could not recall a four-year-old playing at the championships before.
Mr Gardiner said the standard of chess among young Australian competitors had improved noticeably in recent times.
“There is a massive difference in playing ability,” he said.
“I’m always excited to see how young children play.”
He said the game of chess taught young players life skills, problem-solving, and helped them learn to think deeply.
“For a lot of kids it’s their first experience of the real chess culture,” he said.
“All the way through, I’ve got my enjoyment from seeing kids do well.”
Gold Coast chess champion Gene Nakauchi, 17, will compete at the junior championships for the final time this year and is the favourite to take the crown.
Gene’s father, Yojiro Nakauchi, said Gene had played chess from about the age of eight. He said he hoped his son would perform well but that the competition would be difficult.
“One little mistake will cost him a lot. It’s not easy,” he said.
Source: http://www.goldcoast.com.au