Teen King

Niles North teen is U.S. chess king
BY MATT WILHALME Staff Reporter
May 9, 2011 02:09AM

Eric Rosen, 17, first began playing chess the summer before he started second grade, but by the time spring break rolled around, his dad couldn’t beat him anymore.

“We didn’t know it at the time,” his father Brad Rosen said, “but life would never be the same.”

Last week, the junior at Niles North High School became the United States Chess Federation K12 national champion at a tournament in Nashville, Tenn.

Eric Rosen won the title after going undefeated through seven rounds. He rolled to victory after a tense sixth-round matchup against Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, a so-called FIDE Master. FIDE Masters are internationally recognized in the chess community and are on path to possibly become a Grand Master, the highest rating.

The Skokie native nervously watched Ostrovskiy move his pieces until he realized his opponent’s game plan.

“The first 11 moves of the game had been on my computer screen the night before,” said Rosen, who studied several of Ostrovskiy’s previous games in preparation for the match.

By the time he reached the final, Eric Rosen needed only a draw to win the national title, although he didn’t realize it at the time.

Over the years the national champion has played in hundreds of tournaments and at camps across the country and even helped his school win the state chess tournament in 2010. This year Niles North fell to Whitney Young in Illinois, but finished fourth nationally.

More here.