If the 1992 Summer Olympics can promise glory and commercial endorsements for pursuits as arcane as using a long stick to propel oneself over a pole or flipping one`s body along a narrow piece of wood, people should be able to push around a few miniature horses and castles without getting flak about it. Chess can be just as cool as pole vaulting or the balance beam or, dare one suggest it, the Dream Team.
At least that`s the opinion of the young people who shunned Thursday`s inviting sunshine for some grueling mental gymnastics in the domed Preston Bradley Hall of Chicago`s Cultural Center.
Under walls carved with the names of such intellectual luminaries as Goethe, Milton and Shakespeare, the 21 finalists competed in the first Mayor`s Citywide Chess Tournament. It is one of several contests sponsored by the Department of Human Services` youth delinquency prevention division to keep the city`s youth occupied during summer vacation.
This was chess as performed by a generation weaned on MTV and Nintendo. The players moved their pieces as quickly as a cursor flashes across a computer screen. Even so, some got so fidgety that they played standing up. A victory was more likely to prompt a raucous round of high-fives than a solemn handshake with one`s opponent.
”In other sports, you have to be strong or tall,” said Darryl Monroe, 12. ”It doesn`t matter for chess. What matters is you have to have the mind.”
Darryl, who lives in Englewood, learned to play chess about two years ago, when he and his cousin Marcus couldn`t find some of their checkers and began to play the game with chess pieces. They soon tried chess itself and Darryl got hooked.
”He came out with a pawn (to) king-four,” he rattled off after his first game of Thursday`s contest. ”So I knew he was going to bring out a bishop.”
His mother, Madeira, smiled uncomprehendingly. ”He`s trying to teach me,” she confided. ”But he keeps beating everybody.”
You see, beating your opponents and beating them fast was the modus operandi of the city contest. Games were played under a 30-second rule, meaning that you had to take your turn within 30 seconds. But a half minute was enough time for some to play half a game.
”Mate `em and mate `em quick,” was how John Cooper, 14, described his strategy. John`s brother, Lawrence, 10, actually hovered over the chess board for most of his own games. He was too impatient, he said, to sit down.
The fast-draw techniques drew some words of concern from tournament director Richard Verber, a two-time state champion. ”They play at breakneck speed,” he said. ”It`s a good thing they don`t run across the street that fast or they`d all break their necks.”
And Danarra Johnson, 11, didn`t adhere to the hushed silence that usually accompanies chess matches. Occasionally, a giggle broke loose. She felt a little self-conscious, she said, about being the only girl playing. ”I want to play a girl,” she said. ”I don`t want to play all these boys.”
The boys, though, didn`t seem to mind. Several gathered around Danarra`s table to watch her play each match, even though she lost three and drew one.
The only strict traditionalist in the bunch was Alex Burda, 12, who played his way silently and methodically to first place in the grammar-school division. But it could have just been habit. He moved to Chicago three months ago from Kiev, Ukraine, where he had been competing against other children and adults since he was 7.
Alex, though, still took pains to point out that he enjoys soccer as much as chess. And winning the chess contest, he implied, was no big deal.
”I`m happy,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Even though most competitors didn`t play in classic style, the children are learning far more from chess than how to capture pawns, said Verber, who helps teach chess to students at Orr High School on the West Side. ”Many kids who are difficult to reach through traditional education are attracted by the competitive aspect of chess,” he said. ”This tricks them into concentrating.”
At Orr High School, 730 N. Pulaski Rd., nationally ranked in chess and co-holder of the city`s public high school chess title, the game also serves as an emotional outlet for students, many of whom live in poor, gang-plagued neighborhoods. ”It`s like war without violence,” said chess coach Tom Larson. ”It`s hope. It gives them encouragement.”
Larson started the chess club six years ago to get his students interested in math and has seen it grow to about 80 students.
Among his proteges is Michael Williams, 16, who won the high school division of Thursday`s contest. Williams picked up chess just two years ago, but he now spends about four hours a day practicing. He borrowed two electronic chess games for the summer and even plays during slow periods at the batting cage where he works.
”Chess is underrated,” he said, after winning his last match. ”You never hear about it like baseball or football.”
Admittedly, it`s gotten him some ribbing from less enlightened friends. ”They say `you play a boring sport,` ” he said. ” `You play a nerdy sport.` ” Williams hasn`t let that stop him though. He`s trying to encourage those naysayers to give chess a try.
”Maybe they`ll get like me,” he said with a grin.
