Nearly two dozen kids came out to the Fort Frances Public Library yesterday to participate in a day of chess playing, and every one of them went home a winner.
John Rutherford, also known as “The Chess Guy,” came out to play simuls with the kids, and to find qualifiers for the Northern Ontario Provincial finals of the Canadian Youth Chess Championships, to be held in Thunder Bay in October.
The day began at 10 a.m. with “simuls,” where Rutherford played chess against 18 kids all at once. Of the 18, only three defeated him: Erin Johnston, Maxwell Williams, and Jonathon Colfer.
All three were granted free entry into the afternoon tournament.
Colfer, nine, said he’s been playing chess for two years, and that he often plays with his father at home.
“My favourite move is the Queen’s Rush,” he said, adding an unsuspecting opponent can be beaten in four moves with that play.
At the afternoon tournament, 18 children (some different from the morning crowd) played chess against each other. Each child played five games, earning one point for each game won.
First place went to Ethan Jorbro, who got a perfect score of five, and won a one-year gold membership to the World Chess Network.
There was a tie for second place between Maury Green and Maxwell Williams.
Williams was one of only two seven-year-olds at yesterday’s qualifiers, the youngest players in the group.
Williams took fourth place in last year’s regional competition in Thunder Bay in the nine-and-under category. He was six at the time.
His mother, Katherine Williams, said she taught him to play chess at the age of three-and-a-half.
“He was at the age where he wanted to play games,” she explained. “I had already taught him checkers, so I thought I’d teach him chess next. My husband thought I was crazy,” she laughed.
Now, young Williams often plays with his father at home. “Now I can’t play him because I’ll just lose,” his mother laughed.
All 18 kids who participated in the tournament qualified for the regional competition in Thunder Bay.
“It’s wonderful,” said head librarian Margaret Sedgwick.
The tournament was organized by children’s librarian Andrea Avis, along with Rutherford.
“Chess is becoming popular in the schools,” Sedgwick noted. “We just wanted to offer a different program that would appeal to a different set of children.”
With such a successful event, she said the library would definitely host a tournament again next year.
“It was so much fun,” she said.
Every child who participated received a small prize, and the Central Canada Chess League donated five chess sets to the library in recognition of the work they did in organizing tournament.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
