Jason Yu moves his knight into position and his opponent already knows he’s been beaten. I lasted a whole 35 moves against one of the world’s greatest chess players, a 7-year-old third-grader at Open Window School in Bellevue.
His sparring partner, friend, and fellow World Youth Chess Championship participant, Tendo Lumala, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Open Window, tells me straight.
“You’ve got a lot of work to do,” Lumala said. “You really don’t know what you’re doing.”
He’s right. The last time I played a meaningful game of chess, neither of them were even born, while the two of them practice up to three hours a day taking on some of the strongest competitors in the world and winning.
Yu and Lumala, members of the school’s chess team, both were asked to participate in this year’s youth championship held last month in Durban, South Africa.
Yu, who was asked to represent the United States in the under eight category placed 11th out of 64. Lumala, playing for his parent’s native country of Uganda, placed 64th out of 110 in the under 10 category.
Lumala had a chance to become a Candidate Master (CM), three ranks below Grandmaster, but just missed his opportunity.
“The last game was one of the worst experiences ever,” he said. “I needed just a half a point to be a CM, but I lost.
His opponent played the “Giuoco Piano” a series of moves which allows the player to dominate the center of the board.Although Lumala knew what was coming, he said made a “critical error” sacrificing the wrong piece and was checkmated about 30 turns later.
Both he and Yu have an uncanny ability to see the board and various potential moves to be made three to five turns ahead.
If they continue to play at a similar level or higher, both will be back next year playing for the youth championship and may even face one another.Yu is quick to remind Lumala that he’s yet to win a single game against him, despite hundreds of attempts.
It may have to do with Yu’s photographic memory of opening moves. At will he can rattle off at least 30 different combinations, such as the “Giuoco Piano” a personal favorite he says.
“I like the challenge,” Yu said. “I like to study the strategy … I really study the openings.”
Both he and Lumala began playing at an early age, when each was about three, they say.
“I really like the satisfaction I get when I win, especially if it’s a comeback,” Lumala said.
Both have aspirations of playing beyond grade school, which Open Window’s Head of School, Jeff Stroebel, said is a marker of the school’s ability to nurture its student’s passions.
“It’s amazing because while they’re world chess players they’re still little boys,” Stroebel said. “Our kids have a lot of talent and it’s great that we can celebrate that here. It’s nice to see kids follow their passions, especially at such a young age. Our chess program is really part of the fabric of our school.”
