A Bear-able chess victory
HAMMOND: Sixth-grade chess victor credits Benson card with win
From Friday, February 2, 2007 12:46 AM CST

BY LOUISA MURZYN
Times Correspondent

HAMMOND Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson knew ripping 60 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries in the NFC title game could lead his team to Super Bowl XLI, but he didn’t know he helped an Indiana schoolboy become a state chess champ.

“At the beginning of the day when I got there, I had a feeling I was going to win first place,” said Andrew Olejnik, a fourth-grader at Kenwood Elementary School in Hammond.”

And I had my special lucky Cedric Benson football card,” Andrew said. “I like him and that’s probably the one that gave me the luck. I had it in my pocket when I was playing and that’s how I won all my games.”

Andrew won the Scholastic Chess of Indiana Individual State Championship in the junior varsity sixth-grade and under category last weekend in Anderson.

Here is the full article.

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