Posted on 01/18/2002 6:13:41 AM PST by 2Jedismom
Fair Lawn girl has even Bobby Fischer beat
For three hours each day, Hana Itkis is royalty, the ruler of 16 subjects whose fates are open both to chance and cunning calculation.
Her challengers often are as old as her grandfather, masters with a lifetime of tricks and little sympathy for missteps.
Heady stuff for a kid from Fair Lawn who is four years from her driver's license.
But Hana Itkis isn't like any kid you know.
At 13, Hana is the youngest player in this week's U.S. Chess Championships in Seattle. She broke the record set in 1957 by 14-year-old future legend, Bobby Fischer.
Chess is part of Hana's heritage. Her mother is a Moldovan national chess champion -- Hana was brought to Fair Lawn from the former Soviet Union when she was 2 -- and her father is an international chess master.
Hana is a home-schooled wonder whose idea of relaxation is studying her opponents' opening moves from earlier matches -- looking for a pattern, anything predictable, that might suggest where to lay the ambush, where to fall back.
"They don't play what I prepare for," Hana mused. "I guess they change their mind."
Diane Tulman, her mother, is well aware of the pressures Hana will feel as fame builds. But competition is nothing new. "She started playing when she was 7," Tulman said. "She didn't want to play for a while, but when she saw a bunch of kids playing, she wanted to play too."
Competing against the best players in the country will either frustrate Hana or motivate her to train harder, Tulman said.
"I am afraid that if she doesn't do well, she will get scared and stop playing," the mother said. "No matter what the result, she is the youngest to ever play and she can learn from it."
Whether or not she returns from Seattle victorious, Hana has made history.
She is part of the first class of women to compete against men in the 113-year-old event, and is among the first group of qualifiers to win entry into the 56-player field through open competition. In the past, tournament officials invited only the top players ranked by the U.S. Chess Federation.
A new format expands the competition and opens it to more players.
"We want to help increase the overall playing strength of women players by letting them play against the top players in the world," said John Henderson, a spokesman for the tournament. "We also want to attract kids who aspire to play. Getting here is a big achievement."
Hana is a long way from Fischer's attainments -- she is not the favorite in Seattle -- but she has a good start, Henderson said. In 1999, she won the Pan-American Games for girls under 12. And last year, she was the youngest player in the under-14 division of the World Youth Championships. She is currently ranked sixth among U.S. girls under 16.
"There are not too many people in the world right now that have beaten records set by Bobby Fischer," Henderson said.
After he won the U.S. Chess Championships in 1957, Fischer became the youngest grand master in history. In 1972, he became the first American world champion. Then, amid disputes with the game's governing body, he gave up competition. He resurfaced for a match in 1992 in Yugoslavia, but his play lacked precision.
Can Hana Itkis inherit Bobby Fischer's mantle?
Tom Brownscome, a life master who works for the U.S. Chess Federation, said Hana and some other players may have benefited from the new qualifying procedure for the Seattle tournament. But Brownscome acknowledged that only skillful play could have taken Hana this far.
"Most of her life, she has been one of the top girls in her age group," he said. For now, the talk at home in Fair Lawn is not about the next Fischer. Three days a week are dedicated to play at the International Chess Academy in Teaneck -- founded by Hana's mother -- and matches against a pair of grand master coaches.
There is time for other passions -- tennis and baking. And time to take in "The Royal Tenenbaums" at the movie theater -- and then get right back to serious play.
"It's been hard," Hana said, "because I have to prepare a lot and play really good players."
Such is the life of a young ruler.
"I have more fun playing the game than studying."
As long as she doesn't inherit the great chess champions personalities, they all seem to go crazy.
Shhhh....don't tell the affirmative action dimwits that pitting people against their superiors in competition makes them stronger rather than weaker.
Thus giving the superior player a handicap makes the less experienced weaker and doesn't help them at all.
Reminder to figit: teach Miss Hormone chess.
:o)
The boy routinely whops up on me playing this game.
"The boy routinely whops up on me playing this game."
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Well...what do you expect from a HS'ed knight? :0)
Best FRegards,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.