Published: Sunday, January 25, 2009
Pupils compete to be kings, queens in game
By COURTNEY MacKAY
Staff Writer
A variety of ages showed off their chess skills at Amherst Middle School for the sixth annual Amherst Scholastic Chess Club Tournament on Saturday, making it clear that age doesn’t matter when it comes to mastering the techniques of the game.
Kindergarten through 12th grade in three levels – novice, intermediate and open – showed a lot of sportsmanship, shaking hands before and after every game.
Watching Nicholas Payne, a fourth-grader from Salem, play a practice game with someone he just met before round one is something that his mother, Debbie Payne, looks forward to at tournaments.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “It gives him an opportunity to meet other kids.”
While most of the kids Nicholas played are close to his age, he said there is one person significantly older who he has played before: his dad. “Every single time I’ve played him, I’ve won,” he bragged. “Well, except two.”
The only sounds in the cafeteria were the movement of chess pieces and the ticking of the chess clocks as the concentration of competitors increased each round.
Matt Currier, of Concord, had four kids in the tournament – two in the novice level: Andrew, kindergarten, and Alissa, fourth grade; and two in the open level: Caleb, second grade, and Cameron, sixth grade. Both boys in the open level are defending state champions for their age groups.
Caleb, one of the younger kids in the open level – if not the youngest – plays a lot of older kids. Whether he wins or loses, his father is always excited to watch how well he does with kids who have some years of experience on him.
“He’s so little,” Currier said. “Others think, ‘How do I take this guy seriously?’ “
One of Caleb’s opponents Saturday, Gerry Potorski, is a sophomore at Timberlane Regional High School in Plaistow, and he said there’s no difference in how he plays when it comes to age.”I’m not going to play any differently because they’re younger or older,” he said.
With the advanced computer software and the Internet being such a part of this generation, it isn’t surprising that some of the kids play chess on the computer on a regular basis. For Currier, there are some pros and cons to his sons and daughter getting extra practice on the Internet.
“They get to see a variety of styles,” he said. “But they aren’t playing on a board face to face.”
Tournament Directors Vince Bradley and Tom Cassar said chess in general is great for people of all ages.
“They learn how to use patience,” Cassar said. “How to win or even lose.”
“If they – the kids – have the patience to do it, adults should, too,” Bradley said.
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Excellent stuff. More schools should do this.