Kitty Clark Fritz/Special to the Tribune

Grant Hall (left) and Maxwell Sanchez, fifth-graders at Hubert Humphrey Elementary, engaged each other in a relaxed game of chess in between competition rounds. Sanchez described his love for the game of chess like this: "It's not like athletics where you have to be strong. You just have to be mentally sharp. I love thinking . . . critical thinking."

Kitty Clark Fritz/Special to the Tribune

Miranda Nelson, 12, a seventh-grader at LBJ Middle School, studies a move by her chess opponent Catherine Vigil, 9, a third-grader at St. Mary's Catholic School. The two faced-off recently at the 10th annual Chess Fest at Sandia Prep in Albuquerque. "I love chess!" said Vigil, who won the match. "It's so fun . . . when you win you feel so good, but when you lose it's OK. You never really lose unless you don't learn something."

Kitty Clark Fritz/Special to the Tribune

A table crowded with colorful, shiny trophies awaits the victors of Chess Fest at Sandia Prep. Around 160 young chess enthusiasts from around the city gathered to challenge one another in the game of strategy.

More School City

• Suspect beef called back from schools
• Measure requiring high school proficiency test awaits New Mexico governor's signature
• Albuquerque's Lenore Wolf has dedicated her life to kids

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

The game is on. It's black versus white, mano a mano. But don't whip out those pompoms or start the cheers.

This game is a quiet one. It's a battle of the mind, and noise is an enemy to everyone. After all, the kids who are playing have a lot at stake. One false move, and it's checkmate.

On a recent Saturday, 160 Albuquerque-area kids furrowed their brows and whipped out their chess boards. They put on their thinking caps and spent a day strategizing against other students at Chess Fest.

Sponsored by Sandia Prep, the event was open to any student who loves to play the game. It's also one of the many United States Chess Federation-sanctioned events that take place each year in New Mexico.

Participating in the Chess Fest were children who range in age from kindergarten to high school. And they all share a passion for this cerebral sport.

Many of the kids were not strangers to each other. They also participate in Albuquerque Schools Chess League events throughout the year and know each other — if not by name, then by the win-loss-draw history they share.

The Albuquerque schools league is made up of 48 teams comprising public, private, parochial and home-school students in elementary, middle and high school. It got its start in the 1961-62 school year with four participating high schools: Sandia, St. Pius, Highland and Manzano.

In the ASCL, five-member teams (a school can have more than one team) participate in six meets throughout the school year. The team that wins the most games wins the round. Tournaments like Chess Fest are optional and don't count toward the ASCL team ratings. (But they do count toward the individual student's chess ranking in the United States Chess Federation, if a student is a member.)

At its peak, Chess Fest has had 200 competitors, said Kim Hughes, who has organized the tournament since it began 10 years ago at Georgia O'Keeffe Elementary.

"A northern New Mexico tournament was going on this weekend," Hughes said. "Usually, we've got the kids from up north here."

For Hughes, chess is a family affair. He coaches Sandia Base Elementary's chess team and his wife, Gayla Walden, coaches Sandia Prep's team.

Their daughter, Kait Hughes, is a senior at Sandia Prep and has been playing since second grade. Not only is she on the Sandia Prep chess team, but she helps Dad coach at Sandia Base, too.

"It's fun being one of the few girls who plays," Kait Hughes said. "It's rewarding being an assistant coach. I'm not the best player there is. But there are so few girls, I'm No. 9 in the state!"

Ron Kensick, director of the Albuquerque schools league, has been playing chess for 35 years. Kensick is the league's fourth leader and is what the chess world calls a "master."

That is, he's one of the top 600 adult players in the country.

"Bobby Fisher was the world champion in '72," said Kensick, a native of Buffalo, N.Y. "That summer, we found a chess club and I went to it."

And he was hooked.

Without children himself, Kensick devotes his spare time to organizing the six city meets. It involves finding a school that will host the meet, making sure it has enough space to house the attendees and their families, matching teams up and other logistical issues.

When he's not organizing the city meets, he's helping officiate at tournaments like Chess Fest and coaching a chess team at Wherry Elementary.

Why do all of it?

"I'm big on education," Kensick said. "Education has had a profound impact on my life. Chess has been very rewarding to me. I enjoy it a lot. This is something I want to give back to the kids."

The waiting game

Besides devoted coaches, parents are the other reason chess is a successful activity in the Albuquerque school community.

Chess meets are one-round events. Tournaments can be four- or five-round events. During rounds, parents aren't allowed in the competition room unless they have a 10-minute observation pass.

Moderators stick around and watch the entire round, answering questions from competitors, resolving disputes in a matchup or addressing other matters that crop up.

Coaches and parents can't talk to the competitors, who play for 1 point per win, 1/2 point for a draw or zero points for a loss.

On this Saturday, the competition rooms are the Russell Student Center and the Saunders Library. The student center is quiet as the students concentrate on strategy. While they concentrate, parents wait across the way in the Sandia Prep East Gym.

Parents and siblings are scattered at tables and on any bleacher or floor space available. Siblings pass time playing card or board games or running outside. Some parents do a puzzle. At one table, parents play a spirited game of Racko. The more ambitious of the adults might even whip out the Scrabble board and dictionary.

Anything to make the long day pass quickly.

But ask any of the parents about the waiting, and they'll tell you they don't mind one bit. It's worth it, they say.

At one of the tables sat a group of parents who home-school their children. These parents' kids comprise two home-schooling teams that compete in the Albuquerque Schools Chess League.

Kathy Lott, whose 15-year-old son was competing at Chess Fest, said chess teaches kids to work hard and lose well.

"You have to learn that even when you play hard and suffer a devastating loss, you have got to put the losses behind you," Lott said.

Kevin Malone, another parent at the table, said the kids want to do it, so the families do, too.

"We do it because the kids find it fun," said Malone, whose four kids are competing at various levels — two of whom went on to win two of the coveted Chess Fest trophies at the end of the day.

"It's a mental exercise," Malone said. "It teaches them patience and understanding, and they love the socializing."

Helen Blaine, 9, is the daughter of another parent at the table. She returned from her round — she won — and she was beaming. Blaine has been playing chess since she was 4 years old. She also competes on a soccer team and can't decide which sport she likes better.

But she lights up when she comes up with an answer to why she plays chess.

"You have to think a lot," she says. "My family plays and it's fun for my family."

Another student, Maxwell Sanchez, is an 11-year-old fifth-grader at Hubert Humphrey Elementary. He, too, left the competition room with a smile. He won two out of four rounds and said his play that day was "fairly good."

Sanchez said he learned to play chess when he was 4 years old and joined the team last year in fourth grade.

For Sanchez, chess "is a lot of fun because it doesn't take a lot of physical activity, but it takes a lot of critical thinking," he says.

However, not all of the kids were beaming as they left the competition room. One boy left in tears. Another disheartened boy, 9-year-old John Ng of Dennis Chavez Elementary, wasn't teary but was overheard telling his parents: "I wanted a trophy." He won two of four rounds and his mom and dad offered encouragement and smiles.

"This is my first year," Ng said. Will he compete again? "It's fun. It's pretty cool. Yes!"

And he probably will. Ng wound up winning a 9th place trophy in one of the categories. He was beaming then.