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A strategic, quiet battle of the minds
Children compete in scholastic chess tournament
Friday, Oct. 31, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by DARWIN WEIGEL
Beach Elementary School student Brandon Strohecker, 9, plays chess against his father Mike Strohecker of Chesapeake Beach during a practice sessions Saturday at the Maryland Chess Association K-12 tournament at Windy Hill Middle School.
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Parents paced outdoors. The cafeteria buzzed with players bulking up on soda and potato chips between matches. But the gymnasium itself was darkened and hushed.
Last weekend was the 2008-2009 season opener of the Maryland Association of Chess' scholastic tournaments at Windy Hill Middle School.
The action — such as it was — took place without a sound. Rows upon rows of tables were set with chessboards in anticipation. The tables also held scattered couples of opponents silently flanking the boards.
At the doorway, the proctor and overseer was Beach Elementary School Principal Michael Shisler — that's "Doctor Shisler" to the whispering coterie of current and former staff and students clustered just beyond the gymnasium door in the brightly lit hallway that serves as a buffer between the hushed gym and chaotic cafeteria.
It's because "Doctor Shisler made them do it," that Madeline Metcalfe, a sixth grader, attributes the arrival of chess at Windy Hill Middle School this year. "He gave them a grant," she said.
"Last year the chess leader moved away," explained Jazmine Walker, a Windy Hill seventh-grader who, like Metcalfe, graduated from Beach Elementary School with a hankering to keep playing chess at the tournament level.
The lack of a program at her middle school sent her back to Beach Elementary where she continues to hone her skills although opportunities to play at her middle school are now available.
"I'm like the marathon queen of it," Walker said of the tournaments she has attended since beginning the game in fourth grade.
"We're chess buddies," said Metcalfe, draping her arm over Walker's shoulders.
Like many of the Calvert County students who played in Saturday's sanctioned tournament, Metcalfe and Walker began their chess careers at Beach Elementary where Shisler uses in-school clubs to offer chess lessons to students in first grade through fifth grade. After-school clubs offer further lessons and strategies while additionally providing practice opportunities.
"Doctor Shisler shows them strategies and practices with them," said Chris Banks, vice-principal at Beach Elementary. Banks tells the story of the clubs in an excited whisper but frequently interrupts herself to comment on a player checking out with Shisler. "This girl practiced with us last year," she said of a second-grader. "She was good. This year she's really, really good."
The tournament doesn't necessarily encourage kindergartners, but they are welcomed if they wish to play. But this year's youngest player is a first-grader, Banks said.
"Last year, as a kindergartner, she tried the tournament. She couldn't last. But this year she's holding her own," Banks said.
Dajon Wiseman, a fifth-grader at Beach Elementary and veteran of two tournaments shrugged off the accomplishment for his own part. "It was nothing really," he said, "I liked it so much [I joined] the after-school [club]. I'm the only one in my family that can play," he said.
Banks gave him a look and mentioned Beach Elementary's monthly family pizza night which includes chess so full families can join in.
Wiseman confided that another family he considers as close as his own family also plays chess.
Now the "little kid," Wiseman said of Walker, "I call him my brother … he can move the rook forward and backward. He can do that. The others play themselves."
When Jazmine Walker walked past just then Wiseman laughed and nodded his head at her.
"The other sister plays at Windy Hill. She came back [to Beach Elementary] to learn," he laughed.
Walker grinned back at Wiseman and Metcalfe chimed in.
"We keep up with Doctor Shisler," Metcalfe said.
"Yes," Walker said. "Yes, we do."
Shisler himself remained inside the darkened and quiet gymnasium. Sunlight fell in shades of amber over the tables of quiet opponents and readied boards. As two young boys approached the table, Shisler began searching on the large tournament grids before him.
"We had a draw," said one of the boys upon reaching Shisler's table.
"Good job," Shisler said. "What board, gentlemen?" he asked.
"Board 327," they said in unison.
Shisler wrote a small box and then looked back up. "Did you set your board back up, fellas?"
"Yes," they said, again in unison.
"Good job," Shisler said and they headed out into the bright hallway.
Duo after duo approached Shisler, reported in and affirmed they left their board in ready for the next match.
"Good match," he said to a pair of slightly older boys, "it was a long match."
Walking out of the dark gymnasium to the bright hallway Beach Elementary fourth-grader Davin Loc blinked and took a moment to answer that this was his second tournament. After a pause to ponder further he replied to a query about his success thus far.
"So far, so good," he said.
The tournament is set up so that everyone plays four rounds in the somber gymnasium. And there is plenty of practicing going on in the rowdier cafeteria throughout the afternoon as well.
"Everyone gets to play as long as they're here," Banks said. And students participate in the scholastic tournaments around the state. The tournaments pair players based upon similar skill levels, Banks said.
The Maryland Chess Association, a volunteer organization, acts as the governing body for chess in Maryland. The association administers and conveys state titles and sponsors an array of tournaments and championships as well as keeping a calendar of affiliated tournaments across the state.
It is MCA's task to sanction tournaments and send directors to the events to record and referee.
The association sanctions about a dozen scholastic tournaments each year in addition to adult tournaments and championships. Windy Hill was the opening tournament for this scholastic year.
Jim Becker, MCA's Maryland scholastic coordinator, attends virtually all of the scholastic tournaments. The season usually follows the school year but nowadays has come to start in October, in deference to soccer season, Becker said. The scholastic season then wraps up in May.
Despite a truncated season, last year, Becker said, the scholastic tournaments outnumbered the adult tournaments in Maryland.
This perhaps explains why the father of two daughters attending Roland Park Country School in Baltimore was among the parents fidgeting outside the gymnasium door.
Like many Beach Elementary families, he found chess an enjoyable route to spend time with his daughters.
"I am a very recent player," he said. "I taught them this summer. I played for six months when I was 12 and had not played for the next 27 years,"
Tyler Berberian, a Windy Hill Middle School student, would seem to be a cautionary tale for parents returning to the game. Berberian also learned at home.
"I just beat my dad," he nearly exploded with the news. "It took me two years to beat him," he said and he smiled widely.
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