Chess wizard challenges adults, shows potential
Jonathan Schwab – Mail Staff Writer
A 6-year-old Salida boy who learned to play chess before he could read, challenges adults at the game – and wins.
Christopher Graves, who began playing when he was 3 years old, challenges and defeats adults at Bongo Billy’s Salida Café since February.
A Longfellow Elementary School first-grader, Graves practices almost daily – often with his older brother Leeland, a sophomore at Salida High School, his sister, Julaine, who’s in middle school and his parents.
He plans to compete in a national chess tournament at the Scout Hut in Riverside Park Sept. 29, the first of its kind in Salida.
Heart of the Rockies Chess Club will host the tournament. Club members practice at Bongo Billy’s from 6-8:30 p.m. Thursdays and from 1:30-5:30 p.m., Sundays.
The Graves family moved to Salida from Trinidad last year.
Graves’ father, Rusty, said, “The only time he aggravates me is when he’s goofing off and he beats me anyway. He makes it look easy.”
His mother, Alma, said it was good to get Christopher to Bongo Billy’s because “he’s beating everybody in the family.”
Christopher said he likes chess because it allows him to use his mind and it’s “not a rushing game.”
He said there is no chess board at his school, but he plays “a lot” on the computer and with others outside school.
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Charming story. I hope the boy will be a champion one day.