Climbing the ranks

Published 12:01 am Tuesday, August 30, 2011

MONROE — Howard Chen is a rising star in the ranks of chess players.

The 17-year-old Monroe High School senior became a revelation this summer when he tied for first place at the 16th Pacific Coast Open Chess Tournament in Agoura Hills, Calif.

He’s been known as a top player in Washin

gton state for some time. Howard is currently is the sixth best player in the state, according to U.S. Chess Federation rankings.

Howard likes playing chess because it provides him with problems to solve.

“There’s a joy in playing chess. There are some people that fell in love with chess,” Howard said.

Howard started playing when he was 8 years old. No one in his family plays, but he got involved at his elementary school in Longview. He moved to Monroe when he was 14 and is now a member of a chess club in Seattle.

Howard has been in 10 tournaments this year, five of them during the summer. He generally goes with one of his parents to tournaments. Most have been on the West Coast, but he has gone to places like Philadelphia in the past.

Howard played a friendly game last week at the Monroe Public Library. There, he beat his opponent easily in two matches, more concerned about getting his pieces in position than going on the attack.

“If I win it’s because I managed to coordinate my positions better,” he said.

For Howard, he dreams of earning the title of grandmaster, given to the highest ranking players. With his 2,383 points, Howard is 200 points shy of achieving that goal. To get them, Howard needs to do well in official tournaments and beat players ranked higher than him, but he can lose points if he is defeated. He believes he can get the necessary points in two years. At the end of two of his last three tournaments — including Agoura Hills — he earned 25.2 points.

The problem is that he may have to change priorities in his life, especially since he’s getting ready to apply for college.

“Chess has no place in college. You study and focus on your classes,” he said. “(Chess) takes a lot of dedication. I’ll keep trying if it keeps being a part of my life.”

He is considering applying to an Ivy League school, which could harm his routine of practicing three hours a day.

Also, his opponents may have more time to practice than him. Recently, Howard heard about a 12-year-old on the East Coast who practices about eight hours a day, something that surprised Howard.

“I said, ‘How can you do that?'”

Many people take a break from chess when they enter college, said Josh Sinanan, president of the Washington Chess Federation, the official governing body of the state.

Sinanan has known Howard since 2009 through the Seattle Chess Club. He believes Howard can achieve his goal of becoming a grandmaster.

“He’s very young and he’s got talent for chess,” Sinanan said. “He has good work ethic, too.”

Howard didn’t do well at a tournament in Los Angeles last weekend. He believes he may have lost points, but that has not been published yet. He still has a chance to rebound this Labor Day weekend when he competes at another tournament in San Diego.

There are players who manage to earn a living playing chess. To do this, they need to keep winning tournaments so they are invited to others with cash prizes.

If Howard continues playing, money would not be his motivation.

“For me, it’s more about the respect you make in the tournament,” he said.

Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@ heraldnet.com.