A 12-year-old chess champ from Cochrane is off to Surrey, B.C. this weekend, to compete in the national championships.
Grayson Mineault says his Dad started teaching him the game at four years old, and he found it “super fun”.
He started playing in school and joining chess clubs, and almost qualified for national competition last year.
“I started to work hard so then I would qualify and ended up winning the tournament for provincials this year,” he states, “so I’m going to nationals.”
Mineault won three gold medals and a bronze at the provincials in Sturgeon Falls. He’s ranked in the top 30 in his category of 113 competitors at the nationals.
He has his preferred moves on the board, too.
“I really like when I’m white, playing the Italian game, which sometime sets up for the fried liver attack. When I’m black, if they play E4, I just play the king’s pawn so E%, and then if they play D4, I play the Dutch defence, F5.”
Grayson says he enjoys the atmosphere at chess tournaments and making new friends. He adds that community support is helping pay the way for his trip to Surrey for the five-day competition.
