Kings, queens of competitive chess match wits in Boca Raton
By Maria Herrera
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
July 19, 2009
You could hear a pin drop. Not even the intermittent clicks of chess clocks could break the players’ concentration.
“Look how much thinking they’re doing,” said Rod Miller as he watched his 14-year-old son, Adam, play a chess match. “That’s the person you want to be your accountant.”
Chess is a game of strategy, and nearly 150 people were registered to compete this weekend at the U.S. Class Chess Championships at the Marriott Boca Raton for a battle of skills. The event attracted players of all ages to compete in the championship, which consisted of five games spread across three days. Today a scholastic competition is scheduled.
Among the players were Grandmaster Julio Becerra of Miami, International Master Blas Lugo and Daniel Ludwig.
“We try to advertise early on when we have these players because we get a lot of participants who would like to play them,” said tournament director Franc Guadalupe.
Grandmaster is the highest title the World Chess Federation can give a player. Think Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov.
The competition offered a prize fund of up to $10,000 in addition to titles and plaques for every category.
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