Chess board champ

Cole Wilson, 12, a sixth-grader at Athey Creek Middle School, is already an accomplished chess player

By Kara Hansen

The West Linn Tidings, Apr 2, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

VERN UYETAKE / West Linn Tidings

Athey Creek Middle School sixth-grader Cole Wilson plays an impromptu game against his coach, Radu Roua, a chess master. Wilson took the top title at the Chess for Success tournament and hopes to land first place at the upcoming Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation Championship. Below: To find competition at his level, 12-year-old chess champ Cole Wilson often looks to games on the Internet for opponents.

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For West Linn sixth-grader Cole Wilson, the reason to play competitive chess is simple.

“I like the game,” said Wilson, an Athey Creek Middle School student. “I like the strategy.”

He also likes to win.

At age 12, Wilson is already a decorated chess competitor.

His trophies — which include more than a dozen plus a load of medals — sit on top of a bookcase in his bedroom, above soccer and baseball awards. Wilson took first place at the recent Chess for Success tournament, hosted by a nonprofit that organizes an annual competition for clubs and individual students.

He hopes to add another notch to his belt at the Oregon Scholastic Chess Federation Championship April 11 in Seaside. More than 300 finalists are scheduled to compete according to age groups.

Wilson said his interest began when he was a second-grader at Pacific Northwest Academy in Wilsonville.

There, he found Chess Vision, a company that provided instruction and coaching to the student chess club.

“I walked into the club and liked it,” he said, noting his play became more competitive as time progressed.

Chess Vision co-founder Tony Hann said Wilson is rare among his peers. Of students who play competitive chess in elementary school, only about 10 percent pursue the sport in middle school, by his estimates. It helps if parents are supportive, Haan said.

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