Nine-Year-Old Fremont girl ranks nationally in chess
(The Argus, April 24, 2000)
| By Heather Stringer STAFF WRITER FREMONT - Nine-year-old Sharon Tseung's chess coach asks her to show him something called "Holtzhausen-Tarrasch, Hamburg, 1910." quietly she maneuvers the pawns, knights and bishops around the board exactly the way a famous chess match was played in Hamburg, Germany, in 1910. The match is one of hundreds she has memorized since she began playing chess in kindergarten. Tseung, a fourth-grade student at Weibel Elementary School, is ranked 14th in the nation in chess among girls 13 and younger. Earlier this month, she tied for second place in the state chess championships. Weibel chess coach Alan Kirshner says Tseung is the best female player he has seen in his 11 years at the school. |
"Her concentration is amazing," Kirshner said. "She is extremely intense
in listening to what people have to say." Tseung started learning chess from Kirshner, an Ohlone college instructor, at age 5. "1 wanted to play because my brother was playing," said Tseung, whose brother, Alex, was the sixth-grade state champion last year. When Sharon started accompanying her brother to Weibel's chess club, she was one of only -a few kindergartners in a club of 70 members. "I learned to think five steps ahead before making a move because what may look like a good move may not be when you think it out," she said. Tseung says she hopes to become a chess master, a status reserved for players who have a rating of 2,200 or higher. Players accumulate rating points by defeating opponents |
in tournaments. Tseung's personal coach, Richard Shorman, estimated that there are
only a few dozen youth chess masters in the country. "What's rule No. 8?" Shorman asked her during a coaching session last week at her house. Tseung wrinkled her forehead and stared at the chess pieces in front of her. She has memorized Shorman's 30 rules of chess. "Always try to gain control of the center," she said, breaking a long silence. Tseung not only has a lesson once a week, but she also studies famous chess games on the computer three hours a week and plays against her brother about once a week. But she is expected to finish her homework before playing chess. "We encourage (chess) as long as she likes it," said Wing Tseung, her father. "It impro |
concentration and thinking development." His daughter's 30 chess tro- phies decorate several rooms around the house. The first she won when she was 6. But chess is. not her onlyextra-curricular activity. A straight-A student, she alsoplays piano and violin and is learning ice skating. |
