By Kristin Butler
STAFF WRITER
Question: What does it take
to keep 150 kids sitting quietly
in a crowded room on a rainy day without uttering a singe word?
Answer: chess.
More than 300 kids came together at Weibel Elementary
School in Fremont over the weekend to compete at the first
California Scholastic Grade Level Championships.
Local students from Weibel, Mission San Jose, Forest Park,
Pioneer and Gomes elementary schools and Hopkins Junior High
School in Fremont and Graham Elementary in Newark pitted
their.best chess skills against visitors from Southern California.
Almost 150 fifth through eighth-graders spent Saturday
hunched over green and white paper chess boards in the
multipurpose room. On Sunday the room swarmed with
180 children from pre-school through fourth grade.
Sitting at long tables, their legs tucked under them on metal
chairs, many bowed their heads under baseball caps or cupped
them between tiny, tense hands. The was silent except for the
constant tapping of thee pawns and knights being moving and
ticking clock"' which marked off the time allotted to each
player.
There were some tears, but for the most part children were a
study in tranquility. Their parents, however, were another story.
"We lock the parents out of the room, said Alan Kirshner, the
organizer of the event and a chess parent "They can get too
intense," he explained. At the award ceremony for the
kindergarteners he apologized for locking out the parents, then
added, "But chess and the kids come first."
Many of them could be seen peering through the tinted glass
windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of their, children.
Despite the stress of competition, though the kids" were
there to have fun. Running around in blue, white" or yellow T
shirts bearing their school's name, they were eager to explain why
they liked the game.
Jonathan Lonsdale, the second-grader who started fourth
round sitting opposite Corey Evans, the son of Grand Master
Larry Evans, was all smiles when talking about chess.
"I started playing when I was 3, " he said. "I played my first
tournament when I was 4. It's fun. You get to win trophies and
sometimes money. I won $60 once last year."
The Argus,© May 1, 1999