All the right moves

  • Sue Waldburger<br>Enterprise writer
  • Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:59am

Sam Meisner has game.

Unlike most 9-year-olds, Sam’s involves a 64-square board and a vocabulary in which “cramp” means lack of space to move game pieces and not a contracting muscle.

The third-grader at King’s Elementary School in Shoreline is the best chess player in the state among his age group. He won the distinction – his third consecutive grade-level crown – by winning the most points at the Washington Elementary Chess Championships in Ridgefield, Wash., April 21.

Sam, who lives in Edmonds, shared the tournament title with another young chess whiz from the Seattle area. The two battled to a tie at the tournament that attracted 1,500 accomplished young players.

During the coming Memorial Day weekend, as prep athletes across the state gather for championship tournaments, Sam will be hunkered over the chess board playing in the adult division of the Washington Open Chess Tournament in Seattle.

A cracked kneecap from a bicycling mishap when he was 4 sidelined Sam long enough to get him turned on to chess, according to his dad, Peter Meisner. Younger brother, Jed, now 8, broke out the chess board, Sam learned the rules and the rest, according to the elder Meisner, is history.

Like many chess wunderkinds, Sam is an excellent student in school and has “that first-born drive … the need to be perfect,” said his dad, who admitted to having to quickly improve his own game to stay ahead of his son.

Sam’s parents don’t see him as precocious (“… that is breaking rules, he doesn’t do that,” dad said) but rather as extremely competitive. Sam’s will to win is demonstrated in the classroom and on the soccer pitch, too, Peter Meisner said.

Far from one-dimensional, Sam loves to ride his bike, climb trees and read adventure books. He named Louis L’Amour as one of his favorite authors. Spelling, math and reading are, Sam said, his favorite school subjects.

In addition to playing chess on the Internet Chess Club and with fellow members of the Seattle Chess Club – where he is one of the youngest members, according to his dad – Sam is a member of his school’s chess club.

The King’s club is comprised of about 20 children who meet weekly to learn and play the game. It is coached by Matt Fleury of Mountlake Terrace, a professional chess coach and teacher who gives private lessons. Fleury also coaches chess- club members at Seaview and Maplewood elementary schools in the Edmonds School District, Lake Forest Park Elementary in the Shoreline School District, Kenmore Junior High and Stevenson Elementary of Bellevue, a chess powerhouse .

Fleury, 33, said Sam is “unusually good” for his age. He’s an “opportunistic” player who, when his opponents make errors, is “very, very good at finding … chances” revealed by the mistakes.

In his coach’s estimation, Sam is a “tremendous fighter at the board … and … not a big fan of offering draws …” Competitive players earn points for a win or draw, Fleury said, with a draw being worth half as much as a win.

Peter Meisner said his son has an aggressive style and likes to open with the Slav, Sicilian and Queen’s Gambit.

Sam said he thinks chess is ” … fun and … challenging,” especially when he plays adults. “If I beat ‘em , sometimes they don’t like it,” he said.

Of the 10 or so losses Fleury has been dealt by his young students, Sam, he said, has been responsible for four of them.

Chess has been responsible for a major positive shift in family dynamics, according to Peter Meisner, an investments manager. Sam’s mom, Cheryl, is a director at Amgen, a biotechnology firm.

Chess playing, Peter Meisner said, teaches how to lose gracefully, self-control, how to push toward a goal and the reality of consequences of actions.

As a small child, Sam’s response to losing at board games was to stomp away from the table or knock over the board, his dad said. In chess, “they’ll throw you out of the tournament” if you knock over your chess pieces in anger, he said.

Now, if Sam loses, he shakes the winner’s hand, suggesting that the tables will be turned during their next meeting, Peter Meisner said.

Fleury observed that chess is really “the anti-boredom of life.” A person doesn’t “have to be in shape to play, all you need is two eyes – actually you don’t even have to have that, there are blind chess players – two hands – you don’t even need that, I know someone who plays with his wrists – so I guess you just need a brain.”

Being proficient in the game also has allowed Sam exposure to other parts of the country as he travels to tournaments from November through April.

Chess is a very big deal among children of grade-school age in Washington, Peter Meisner said. The state ranks third in the number of schoolchildren who participate in competitive chess, he said.

Both Sam and his dad said chess will continue to be a big part of the youngster’s life at least until he reaches middle school, when other diversions vie for kids’ attention.

Right now though, the (chess) play’s the thing for Sam. He said he’s taught friends to play and they think “it’s cool I play chess and that I’m good at it.”

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