Tempe 7-year-old is a chess champ
Bethany Noble
Special for The Republic
May. 22, 2007 12:03 PM
When Harrison Tracy, 7, of Tempe, first saw his grandfather’s chess set in a closet two years ago, he eagerly asked to be taught how to play.
Little did his family know, two years later he would place second in the Governor’s Cup, a statewide championship for chess players from kindergarten though high school.
“When I first learned the game from my Grandpa, I just fell in love with it,” said Harrison, a first-grader at Rover Elementary in Tempe.
He joined the Chess Club in kindergarten. Every week after school, he plays chess against other students, kindergarteners through fifth-graders, while they work with their coach on strategy, tactics and improving their game.
“I like the strategy involved in chess and the thinking it requires,” he said. “Each game is a challenge.”
One favorite strategy of Harrison’s is a special move he does that leads his opponent to believe he is setting up one move, but then he turns around and does something else.
“I fake them out and I then I can freely take a pawn,” he said “There is no way of protecting it.”
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Someone, anyone better find out what the “special move” is otherwise this kid will be unstopable!!
always good to read about kids who develop a passion for the game!
That’s amazing! This kid has talent!