Searching for Bobby Fischer

Sarah Chu, a first-grader at Sunny Hills Elementary
in Sammamish, is one of hundreds of children in
the Issaquah School District that has caught the
"chess bug." Chess clubs have formed at elementary
schools throughout the district during the past
few years. Once a week (and in some cases, twice
a week) kids get up at the crack of dawn to play a
game that was, until recently, considered "too
difficult" for children to learn. The kids are
proving the experts wrong.
Photo by Ivory Leininger. (click to enlarge)

Strategy, competition and mental discipline are the reasons why hundreds of kids in the Issaquah School District are getting up at the crack of dawn to play chess.

by Brad Broberg

From one corner of the Issaquah School District to the other, elementary school children are getting hooked. Their minds are being consumed. Their behavior is unnatural. It's becoming an epidemic.

What's happening? Hundreds of kids throughout the school district are playing chess.

Over the last few years, chess clubs, classes and teams have popped up in elementary schools all over the district, including Cougar Ridge Elementary in south Bellevue, where dozens of students snub morning cartoons and come to school more than an hour early to learn the game. "I like the strategy," says Cougar Ridge student Chirag Ved, 9. "It exercises my brain a lot."

Zachary Lawless (at left, closest to the camera)
squares off against classmate Abhi Mohan.
Photo by Ivory Leininger. (click to enlarge)

At the moment, Chirag is locked in a lively match with Abhi Mohan, also 9. Both students participate in a chess class taught every Tuesday at 7:15 a.m. by chess master Elliott Neff.

Abhi slides his queen across the board to threaten Chirag's king. "Checkmate!" he cries out. "No," responds Chirag as he triumphantly captures Abhi's queen with his rook. "That's not checkmate. That's the end of your queen!"

Abhi sighs and turns to a classmate playing at another table. "Buddy, he says, "this guy is whooping me."

Not long ago, scenes like this would have been as rare as a child volunteering to do the dishes. Not anymore. "Chess has become very hot at elementary schools all over the Eastside," says Jay Radmer, longtime chess coach at Issaquah High School. "Ten years ago, that wasn't true. Now, a lot of elementary schools are getting support for their programs because of studies showing it's good for academics."

The chess bug has bitten several elementary schools in the school district especially hard. While at least half a dozen Issaquah elementaries have chess clubs or are considering starting them, Cougar Ridge and Cascade Ridge (in Sammamish) also offer a weekly class taught by a professional instructor - with Challenger (in Klahanie) ready to add a class as well.

Teacher Jakki Parks, who started the chess club
at Cougar Ridge elementary, keeps an eye on a
group of second graders during a Tuesday
morning chess class this past October.
Photo by Ivory Leininger. (click to enlarge)

"We try to make it fun for the kids," says Neff, the instructor for all three classes. "The first half of each class is spent teaching the kids the basics of the game - how to open, how to conduct a middle game, chess etiquette, etc. During the other half of the class, the kids practice and play amongst themselves."

Neff's class at Cougar Ridge, which draws more than 30 students a week, costs students $11 per session. On the other hand, the club, which draws as many as 90 students every Thursday morning, is free.

Jakki Parks, who teaches second grade at Cougar Ridge, started that school's club in the spring of 2003 as a pilot program. "Parents here were asking for a chess club for two or three years, but they couldn't find anybody to coordinate it," says Parks. "The principal asked the staff, and I said, 'Sure. I'll do it.'"

When she started, Parks expected about 20 students to come and the program to last six weeks. Instead, 85 students came and she extended the program to eight weeks.

Last year, 150 students - one-fourth of the student body - signed up for chess club. Although the number is down a bit this year, the club remains extremely popular. "I think it's pretty incredible for so many kids to get up so early and want to come," says Parks.

Neff brings three assistants to help him teach his Cougar Ridge class. Meanwhile, more than 30 volunteers help Parks run the club. But that's not all. With support from the Cougar Ridge PTSA, a large chessboard was painted on the playground this summer and an oversized chess set was purchased so that kids could play on the board. "We're in the process of establishing rules so the children can play chess at recess without total chaos," Parks added.

Dads are frequent sights at chess clubs throughout
the Issaquah School District. Here, dad Larson Caldwell
and daughter Chloe lose themselves in a match
at Sunny Hills Elementary on an early Friday morning
in October. Photo by Ivory Leininger. (click to enlarge)

While Cougar Ridge boasts one of the largest elementary chess programs in the district, Sunny Hills Elementary in Sammamish is where Bruce Kovalsky planted the seed for elementary chess eight years ago. "Bruce is definitely the one who started it all," says Parks.

Like Neff, Kovalsky is a chess master - a title bestowed by the U.S. Chess Federation based on points earned in sanctioned competition. Knowing Kovalsky was a chess master, a friend asked him to start a club at Sunny Hills so the friend's son could learn the game. With help from other parents, Kovalsky has been coaching chess there ever since.

"If you build it, they will come, especially at that age," says Kovalsky of the chess program. "It's really blossomed."

Kovalsky coached chess at Sunny Hills for two years before his son, Shane, now 11, was old enough to attend school and join the club. Kovalsky has since started coaching chess at nearby Pine Lake Middle School as well. "I have 10 students that I've coached from first grade through eighth grade," he says proudly.

Kovalsky, who develops testing software at Microsoft, volunteers his time. Both his clubs meet Friday mornings before school. The club at Sunny Hills, with about 60 students, meets at 8:15 a.m., while the club at Pine Lake, with about 40 students, meets at 6:45 a.m. "The kids are bleary-eyed and half-asleep sometimes, but they're enthusiastic about coming," he says. "I've had parents tell me, 'Johnny can't wait until Friday morning.'"

Members of the Friday morning chess club at
Sunny Hills Elementary gather around coach
Bruce Kovalsky for a lesson in end-game strategy.
Photo by Ivory Leininger. (click to enlarge)

Why are they so eager? "They enjoy the competition with each other and the mental challenges chess provides," says Kovalsky.

George and Mary Robertson's three children all belong to clubs coached by Kovalsky - Chris, 13, and Reuben, 11, at Pine Lake and Anne, 7, at Sunny Hills. "It's been a great experience for them," says Mary. "Friday - chess club day - is the only day I have no problem getting my kids out of bed and off to school. They're very dedicated to it."

Robertson believes the logic and strategy chess demands will pay dividends for her children in the long run. "You have to figure out how your opening game is going to lead to your middle game and how you're going to finish it all off," she says. "That kind of thinking is a life skill."

Chris calls chess "a nice way to have some friendly competition ... and beat my dad."

After Kovalsky introduced the game at Sunny Hills, chess fever spread rapidly across the district - mainly through word of mouth. "Once a chess program gets going in one school, parents from other schools learn about it and it grows like wildfire," says Kovalsky, who is assisted by a number of parent volunteers. "I've helped several other programs get started."

Kovalsky learned the game from his grandfather when he was 5 or 6 years old. "I started playing competitively in the seventh grade," he says. "I was part of the Bobby Fischer boom that increased participation in chess something like seven-fold in the early 1970s."

Fischer was a child prodigy who won his first United States Chess Championship in 1957 at age 14. In 1972, he became a national hero by beating the famous Russian grand master, Boris Spassky, to become the first American to win the World Championship since Paul Morphy in 1859.

Like Tiger Woods in golf, Fischer's success ignited new interest in the game. Hollywood even got into the act with a film called, "Searching for Bobby Fischer," which tells the story of a Fischer-worshipping prodigy's struggles to come to terms with his genius.

Although Fischer remains an icon, his legacy has been tarnished by his eccentric and reclusive behavior. Most recently, he was arrested in Japan for trying to enter that country with a passport that had been revoked after he played a chess match in Yugoslavia while that country was under U.S. sanctions.

With Fischer out of the picture, the merits of the game are what's making chess a more and more popular pursuit among today's children. Plus it doesn't hurt when chess references appear in mainstream culture.

"The scene with the huge chess pieces in 'Harry Potter' helped," says Parks. "You see chess more and more on TV. There's a big chessboard at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue. I just think kids like to see all those pieces on the board and all the different ways they can move."

Third-grader Kody Nguyen then sees if the strategy
works in a match against classmate Larrisa Liu.
Photo by Ivory Leininger. (click to enlarge)

That's exactly what appeals to Zachary Lawless. "I like how the pieces move and the different options you have and the joy you get from playing," says Zachary, a 10-year-old member of the Cougar Ridge chess club.

Alex Grune, another 10-year-old Cougar Ridge chess player, calls chess "a really good thinking game. It's really fun because you're concentrating on something."

Concentration is just one of numerous skills chess promotes. The planning, analysis and discipline the game teaches can translate into improved academic achievement. "It's really good for kids," says Radmer. "There have been a number of studies that have shown that involvement in chess helps reading and math scores."

Parks agrees. "There's just all kinds of benefit," she says. "I just love watching them play. You see some kids struggle in the classroom and they go to chess club and shine."

All of that is well and good, but there's another side to chess, which is what drew Kovalsky to the game. "It's the thrill of competition," he says. "Playing a good chess game and beating a good opponent provides a mental satisfaction. There's no luck involved. It's all skill. It's about creating a masterpiece on the chess board."

Kovalsky would know. As a senior at the University of California, he played on a team that won the national intercollegiate championship. Now, as a coach, he's helping young players at Sunny Hills and Pine Lake taste tournament success.

Local scholastic chess competition takes several forms. Many players compete only within their own clubs while some members of some clubs also compete informally against other schools. The most serious clubs and players compete as teams and individuals in official events rated by the Washington State High School Chess Association (WHSCA), the umbrella organization for scholastic chess at all grade levels.

The WHSCA rating system mirrors the one used by the U.S. Chess Federation. Players earn rating points based on their performance in official competition. The higher the rating of the player they beat, the more points they earn. Conversely, the lower the rating of a player who defeats them, the more points they lose.

Second graders Jacob Molloy and Brandy Bahk get
some pointers from Cougar Ridge Elementary chess
coach Elliott Neff. The other two chess club
members on the same side of the table as Jacob
are Jack Jeru (center) and Alec Morihara (far right).
Photo by Ivory Leininger.(click to enlarge)

In tournaments, brackets are set up so that if the two highest rated players perform up to their ratings, they will meet for the championship. In matches pitting one team against another, the number one rated players from each team compete against each other on board one, the number two players compete on board two and so on.

This year, Sunny Hills will host two rated tournaments, one on Dec. 4th and another on Feb. 5. About 250 players from throughout the Eastside and elsewhere are expected to compete. "Only a subset of kids in clubs play in tournaments," said Kovalsky. "Some kids take losing too hard. They go to that level and it's a whole new ballgame. Most kids usually win one or two games (out of five) in their first tournament." For more information about the tournaments at Sunny Hills, call the school at (425) 837-7400, or e-mail Bruce Kovalsky at: bruce@kovalsky.com.

Last year, a pair of teams from Pine Lake Middle School (coached by Kovalsky) placed seventh and ninth in the middle school state tournament. Meanwhile, in individual competition, Pine Lake sixth grader Michael Stead tied for ninth place out of more than 500 players in his division.

As chess coach at Issaquah High, Radmer is looking forward to the new wave of elementary school chess players arriving in high school. "I should see more good players in five years or so ... if they don't drop out at the middle school level," says Radmer. "Middle school students face other social pressures. It's not as cool to be a chess champion in middle school as it is in elementary school."

Radmer, who teaches chemistry and physics, is a lifelong chess player who has been the chess coach at Issaquah High for 14 years. "I've been playing since I was a little kid," he says. "In fact, I don't remember not playing chess. My father taught me. I couldn't beat my father for a long time, but I could beat my sisters."

Issaquah High, along with Skyline High School, competes in the KingCo Chess League (the school district's other high school, Liberty, does not have a team). Radmer is the league's director. About 30 students belong to the Issaquah High School chess club, with the top five players forming the varsity team.

Last year, Radmer enjoyed a dream season. His Issaquah High team, which hosted the state tournament, came in third, its best finish ever. What's more, Radmer's son, Zachary, played first board and captained the team.

For today's young chess players who hope to become tomorrow's chess masters - or maybe just beat their moms and dads - the road ahead is a challenging, yet rewarding one. "It's a huge body of knowledge for any kid to absorb," says Kovalsky.

Sidebar:

Internet sites, chess software deserve some credit for the game's increasing popularity Jay Radmer, chess coach at Issaquah High School, says the Internet deserves at least some of the credit for the increasing popularity of chess.

Various interactive web sites enable kids and adults to both play and learn about chess without a teacher or opponent in the room. "A lot of people play chess online with people all over the world," says Radmer. In fact, one of the parents, David Kriewall, who helps Radmer coach the Issaquah High team, is taking lessons over the Internet from an international master from Romania, he says. Kriewall's daughter, Stephanie, is one of the team's top players.

Elliott Neff, a professional chess instructor who teaches classes at several Issaquah schools, plans to add chess lessons to his web site: www.chess4life.com. "With Internet-based software, I can reach a lot more kids," he says.

In the meantime, Neff's web site contains a list of recommended chess software. Titles include: TASC II Chess CD; Chess Tactics for Beginners; Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players; Total Chess Training; Bookup; and Chess Assistant.

Neff also recommends the following videos and DVDs: Dean's Chess Academy on DVD; Chess School for Beginners; CT-Art 3.0; Chess School for Advanced Players; Strategy 2.0; Fritz; Chessbase; and Chess Endgame Training.

Two web sites worth checking out, says Radmer, are www.chessclub.com, home of the Internet Chess Club, and chessville.com.

Searching for Bobby Fischer

Strategy, competition and mental discipline are the reasons why hundreds of kids in the Issaquah School District are getting up at the crack of dawn to play chess.

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