Middle-schoolers mad about chess
ANDREW BROPHY
Article Launched: 03/19/2007 10:34:25 PM EDT
FAIRFIELD — Edward Fang, a sixth-grader at Roger Ludlowe Middle School, studied the chessboard for a few minutes and then confidently lifted his queen and placed it near the black king. One of Fang’s white plastic knights already was in the center of the vinyl roll-up board — usually the best spot for a chess piece because it can control more squares. Fang, 12, a three-time state scholastic chess champion, was on the attack in a game that would decide the winner of a chess tournament called The 2007 Fairfield County Middle School Chess March Madness.
The game between Fang and Ryan Arrigo, also a Ludlowe sixth-grader, ended after Fang’s knight leapt toward Arrigo’s side of the board to attack his king and rook, captured the rook, and then protected the square from which Fang’s queen delivered checkmate.
After reporting the result of their game, Arrigo and Fang walked out of Ludlowe’s Team Assembly Room, leaving a dozen children staring at chess boards, deep in thought. “I’ve played him in my elementary school and this school,” Arrigo said in a hallway. “He’s beaten me most of the time, but I’ve won twice.”
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I’m mad about chess too.