Student puts competition in checkmate
Mississauga News
By: John Bkila
March 8, 2009 04:14 PM – Chess is a game of skill and strategy. And no one’s more skilled than Ben D’Mello, 15, who came in first yesterday at Dufferin-Peel’s Second Annual Mississauga Chess Championship.
“I’ve been playing since I was in grade 6. My teacher at the time introduced me to the game and I loved it,” said D’Mello, a grade 9 student at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Secondary School.
Held at St. Faustina Elementary School, the tournament was open to all students from kindergarten to grade 9. The top two finishers from each grade will go on to represent Mississauga in the Ontario chess championships.
D’Mello, who admitted to being a little rusty for this year’s competition, also came in first last year when he played for the grade 8 tier.
“I was so excited,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it.”
D’Mello was one of 166 students participating in the competition this year.
The tournament used Swiss Round Robin, a style of play where each competitor faces another who has won or lost the same number of games.
Each game was time controlled to go no longer than a half hour.
Doug Pendergast, organizer and grade 4 teacher at St. Faustina, said he started the tournament to showcase individual talents to complement the school’s chess team.
He also said the game has grown in popularity since, because of the math and critical thinking involved in chess.
“School’s put a lot of value in that,” said Pendergast. “Also it gives non-athletes a chance to participate in something fun and shine.”
And Pendergast’s fellow organizer, Carlo Di Carlo agrees.
“The game of chess is exploding. We have about 360 students and one-third of them plays chess for our school,” said the grade 4-5 teacher at St. Edmund’s Elementary School.
As the tournament this year was extended to include grade 9 students, Pendergast hopes it grows beyond that.
“I hope every year to include another grade,” he said.
Source: www.mississauganews.com
It looks like the kid knows what he’s doing.