Chess championship draws competitors nationwide

Irving—The 16th annual Southwest Class Championships for Chess occurred at the Westin DFW Airport hotel over five days during Presidents' Day weekend.

The chess tournament, which happens the same weekend yearly, is open to players of all ranks and ages. The tournament is divided into seven class sections based on the players' experience level. The levels are master, expert, and then class A through E. Master is the highest-ranking class, while class E is the lowest.

"It's almost like seven separate tournaments all run at the same time because you only play people in your section. Class E players, the beginners, only play other beginners. The grandmasters and masters are in the master's section. They only play people in their section. Every professional is a grandmaster," Grandmaster Gleb Dudin said. 

Chess requires skills that can only be gained through experience and time. Many chess players start playing when they are young and continue to play for most of their lives.

"[I've been playing chess] more than half a century, since I was 12 or so," Curtis Fukuchi, one of the competitors, said." For real chess, since I was maybe 14. I'm going on 69 years old, so it's a long time.”

Players can hone their skills through chess tournaments. 

"I do a couple of small tournaments, maybe two a month, sometimes three," Fukuchi said.

"I try to keep myself in shape and play roughly one tournament a month," Dudin said.

Dudin is a member of the chess team at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley. Students nationally and internationally go to college on chess scholarships. Most of these players spend hours a day practicing their craft.

"I try to work two to three hours a day to keep myself fresh," Dudin said. "Sometimes, it's more. It could go up to eight." 

The University of Dallas is another major player in college chess.

"We're happy to put on this event, and we're happy it draws [players] nationwide," said David Hater, chief tournament director for the Southwest Class Championship. "Texas has a good chess-playing population and we're happy to come here every year and put on this event."

"I hope I play well," Fukuchi said. "At my age, that's all you can hope for."

"You get to the point where your real goal is to do your best and let the rest go because stuff happens," Tom Friske, Fukuchi's opponent, said. 

The Southwest Chess Championship has been growing. 

"We should have over 500 [players] by the time we're done, it will set a record," Hater said. "This tournament has set a record five years in a row, so it has grown. Every year, it has been bigger than the previous year. Last year, [there were] 454 [players]; we're over 470. Players can enter different schedules. I would say about 60 percent of the tournament, maybe more, start tonight, and then the remainder will show up tomorrow. We don't even know how many players are going to show up. I am certainly expecting it to be over 500." 

The reasons for loving the sport are varied among players. 

"I think room for creativity is my favorite thing," Dudin said. "Despite being a fairly simple game, you have 64 squares, 32 pieces. It seems fascinating to me."

The tournament drew a lot of young competitors.

"I brought two kids to the tournament," Manish Jani, one of the parents, said. "My son is 10 and the other son is 6. [My children started competing] around the age of 5.

"I think it's a great experience for kids because it teaches them patience and critical thinking, and the chess community has a lot of great people."