Youngster earns perfect score at chess tourney

Matt Mutz of Devlin plays chess well.
That was confirmed last Thursday during the sixth-annual Corel’s Northwestern Ontario Schools’ Chess Championships at St. Francis School here, where the nine-year-old topped his age division and garnered the only perfect score of the day.
The tournament attracted 33 youngsters, with Mutz and 21 others qualifying for the regional finals Oct. 21 in Thunder Bay.
“I play chess because it’s fun, quiet, and it takes away my headaches,” Mutz said Friday, noting he had honed his skills through games with his dad, Tim, and brothers, Chris and Ryan.
“I beat my dad [at chess]–he didn’t let me win,” the youngster enthused.
“He really beat me–he’s good,” Tim Mutz confirmed.
“A perfect score means he’s very astute at chess,” tourney co-ordinator John Rutherford remarked after play last week.
“[Mutz] will do very well if he comes down to [the regional finals],” he added. “For a person to be a champion [at the finals], it takes a perfect score.”
Alyssa Kupila (Crossroads) also was a local qualifier in the nine-and-under division.
In the 10-11 division, tied for first were Kevin Wright and Michael Cousineau (St. Francis), Steve Lenart (J.W. Walker), and Mike and Matt Badiuk (Crossroads).
Other qualifiers included Nick Kupila, Matthew Beacham, and Chris Mutz (Crossroads), Falon Flinders and Jenny Hawley (St. Francis), and Ryan Wood and Cody Carmody (J.W. Walker).
Mitchell Green (St. Francis) and David Kaun (J.W. Walker) topped the 12-13 division.
Other local qualifiers included Josh Tovey, Adam Gruttner, Cole Derksen, and Ryan York (St. Francis), and Bryce Martin and Matthew Dickson (J.W. Walker).
For the first time, students who finish first in their age division at the regional finals will be able to bypass the provincial competition in southern Ontario and advance right to the national showdown.
The next national championship is slated July 3-7, 2001 at Mt. Allison University in Sackville, N.B.
Fort Frances was one of 19 towns and cities across Northwestern Ontario to hold tournaments. Rainy River held theirs last Wednesday, where Marty Johnson, 13, garnered a perfect score in the 12-13 age category.
Tournaments also are slated in Dryden on Oct. 3 and Atikokan on Oct. 4.