Check and Checkmate

We spent last night working on our chess section, which you can see here. We hope you'll like it! Also, here is a great article about some 11-year old twins from Pennsylvania who started playing in tournaments in 2006.

01/16/2008

Local twins hold big chess titles

Melissa Brooks , Staff Writer

Eleven-year-old twins Jay and Jessica Regam of Blue Bell began playing chess when they were 5. At the time, enrolling her children in lessons was not a serious move, Nina Regam said.

Like Candyland or Chutes and Ladders, chess was just another board game for the youngsters to play. Six years later, the fifth-graders have competed in tournaments across the country. Jay, a student at Chestnut Hill Academy, recently placed third at the 38th annual National Chess Congress in Philadelphia, a non-scholastic tournament in which he beat "a college guy." Jessica, who attends Springside School, holds the title of 2007 fourth-grade Pennsylvania chess champion, along with two other students she tied in the state. And the twins have only been competing since summer 2006, when they joined the U.S. Chess Federation. Jay said he and his sister "practiced and practiced" until their coach at the U.S. Chess Academy in Huntingdon Valley told them they were ready to compete. Jessica described tournaments as "really quiet." They take place in a big ballroom with "special chess clocks," she said. She and her family have traveled to different states for about 13 tournaments so far, both scholastic and non-scholastic, in which she and her brother compete against adults, she said. When the Regam twins became competitive last year, they joined a chess club at the U.S. Chess Academy. They meet once a week, in addition to their weekly lesson. Sometimes the twins play chess on the computer, Jessica said. But practice does not include "playing chess." Individually, they work on "certain positions" their coach gives them as homework. They each have their own boards, which travel with them to tournaments. They also own a family board, which has been around since chess entered their young lives. "I believe the first tournament was when they really got the feeling of it," Nina said. Now, Jessica's games last three to five hours and Jay's can extend to two hours long. Jessica, one of few girls at the tournaments they attend, has a higher skill rating. After his recent third place win, Jay is catching up to his sister's rating, Nina said. While Jay said everybody in his class plays chess, Jessica said not many of her classmates know the game. She taught some of her friends "but they thought it was kinda boring," she said. "It's a lot of strategic stuff - all combinations - but really cool." The twins, however, find chess to be anything but boring. To sum it up, Jay said chess is "fun." Jessica called it a "very unique game." "[Chess] helps develop our minds and helps us think more and analyze," she continued. Jay agreed. "Especially in math," he said. When asked where their love for chess and their game skill came from, if it was, perhaps, passed down from a family member, Jay said, "My dad can play, but he's not that good." The twins agreed they could definitely beat him.