Checkmate!

Fort Garry

River Heights

Bridgwater

Richmond West

It was a case of checkmate, in a positive sense, for a dozen young Manitobans at the recent provincial chess championships.

The Manitoba Provincial Chess Championships were held March 15 at the University of Manitoba. The tournament is run by the non-profit Manitoba Scholastic Chess Association, which is the provincial branch of the Chess’n Math Association. The MSCA is run and organized by Jeremie Piche, with support from Theo Wolchock.

At the recent provincials, one winner was declared from each of grades 1 to 12 , and the dozen champions will now represent Manitoba at the upcoming national championships, to be held in Winnipeg on May 17 and 18 – the Sunday and Monday of the Victoria Day long weekend – at the Victoria Inn.

Wolchock, who is studying mechanical engineering at the U of M, said spectators are allowed at the tournaments, although there are rules of etiquette to ensure crowd noise doesn’t disturb the players.

The River Heights resident, who is also a Happy Math chess co-ordinator, said chess has many merits, not least because it gives one the opportunity for continued self-improvement.

“It’s a problem-solving game … and once you start, you have these different things happening, such as patterns of play and end-game positions you can memorize,” Wolchock said.

“Chess can be addicting, and you want to get better and better. There’s a constant will to play, and there’s also videos and books that are helpful.”

He added that it’s not just about beating one’s opponent, but also as high a ranking as possible.

Aiden Ling won the Grade 5 category — his fifth provincial win in five years.

Ling said he’s looking forward to taking part in this year’s nationals on home soil.

“Chess is a good way to exercise your brain, and a good way to calm down,” said Ling, 11, who lives in Bridgwater.

“Sometimes, my way of calming down is to see other people’s games so I don’t have to stress as much about mine.”

When it comes to his tactics during a game, Ling said it generally depends on his opponent, and he likes to mix it up, but he also does like to be on the offensive.

Yuchen Li, the Grade 7 winner, said he was very happy with his performance at the provincials, and is looking forward to testing himself at nationals.

“I’m a little bit nervous, as the players will be stronger, but I’m very excited to meet some stronger opponents,” said Li, 12, who lives in Fort Richmond.

Li said he likes visualizing where his opponents are going to make their move and, depending on those moves, he likes to attack when he has the chance.

He also has some good advice for chess players out there:

“Never give up, not matter what kind of difficulty there is. There’s always hope.”

Zelus Hui, who won in the Grade 8 category, is looking forward to demonstrating his chess skills on the national stage.

“I am very excited for this tournament. I am not really nervous because the tournament is in Winnipeg this year, so I don’t have to go to another province,” said Hui, 13, who lives in Bridgwater, and now has three consecutive provincial wins under his belt.

“I love playing chess because it makes me use my brain in a different way, and it helps with critical thinking. Chess is also really complicated; there is always something to learn after a game, whether you win or lose. And I also love to win in tournaments,” he added.

Other winners in their respective age categories were:

Grade 1 – Thomas Nguyen; Grade 2 – Isaac Goldschlager; Grade 3– Asher Jo; Grade 4: XiuWen (Elvis) Wang; Grade 6 – Bingqian (Matt) Feng; Grade 9 – Zixuan (Joe) Zhou; Grade 10 – Rhailey Dhiren Punay; Grade 11 – Cole Simpson; Grade 12 – Mason Bilugan.

Visit www.scholasticchess.mb.ca for more information.