Teenage chess masters wow Washington!

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

 

Three prodigies - Joshua Colas, Justus Williams and James Black Jr - are already well-known in the American chess world! They are the youngest chess masters in America at present. Students of the after-school program Chess Challenge in D.C. got a rare chance to meet these three youngsters in a simul recently. 

"It's like I'm setting up a puzzle for myself, and once I see the board I have to make the best moves as possible," Williams said. Colas has participated in a simul before, and he said playing multiple boards is just an extension of long hours of study. "I play a lot of chess, so I'm used to certain positions," he said. "The moves just come to me." He told the after-school program he studies and reads about the game for hours every day. "It takes hard work. It takes dedication," he said.

In less than an hour, the young masters zipped through each of their competitors, winning every match. "For me, the most important thing is that [the students] get exposure to three young kids that are basically peers," said Jamaal Abdul-Alim, a coach with Chess Challenge.

It's just great to have kids play chess. Read the original story at this link.

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