nwasianweekly.com
May 10, 2008

Photo by James Tabafunda


(From left) Amith Vanmane, William Lee and Patrick Wang are headed to Pittsburgh May 9 to compete for their first national chess titles at the 2008 Burt Lerner National Elementary Championship.

Local youth ‘checkmate’ to national tournament

By James Tabafunda

Northwest Asian Weekly

Elena Donaldson’s students are mostly young, male and full of energy. They sound like competitive athletes — and in a way, they are. But their sport is chess.

Donaldson runs the WGM Elena Chess School. After 10 years of giving private chess lessons and teaching her own son, Nicholas, she has developed a demanding curriculum for groups, one her students learn in order to learn the game and quickly improve as players.

Ten Asian American students — out of a total of 16 — attend her advanced chess class. Three of them — Patrick Wang, William Lee and Amith Vanmane — are traveling to Pittsburgh for a chance at winning their first U.S. chess titles at the United States Chess Federation’s 2008 Burt Lerner National Elementary Championship on May 9.

Linda Yoo of Bellevue, William Lee’s mother, says her 7-year-old son enjoys playing chess with other children. Out of 138 first-graders, her son won the first-place trophy last month at the 2008 Washington State Elementary Championships in Redmond. He also won a $500 travel scholarship to the U.S. championship.

Even before the state tournament, she says her son wanted to compete at the national tournament. “I just told him to have fun. There’s going to be kids who are really good from all over the country,” she admitted. “If he does great, fine.”

She said about being one of many Washington families going to Pittsburgh, “In the process of playing chess, we’ve become very good friends with kids from other schools who play chess. There’s a real feeling of community even within our school, but even with competitors’ schools, you’ll see the same kids over and over again.”

She added, “I’ve actually formed play groups with them, and we’ll all be going to nationals together.”

Donaldson knows exactly what it takes to win a national championship. Ranked number two in the world from 1986 to 1990, she is a three-time U.S. Women’s Champion, two-time Women’s Olympic Champion and a three-time Russian Women’s Champion. She learned the game while attending chess school with Garry Kasparov, 1985 World Chess Champion, in Moscow.

After many months of commitment to her Chess Academy, all 21 — including two girls — of her students learn strategies and game hints gained from her many years of championship experience.

“Now, I just say, ‘Hey, relax, just go ahead, have fun. You worked hard so you should be doing well. Whatever you’re doing is just the result of your hard work during the year. There’s nothing you can do now to improve,’” said Donaldson about her advice before the U.S. championship. “So, it’s a tournament to practice, to meet friends, to have fun, to see how you’re doing compared to other kids, to meet other kids, to feel the pressure.”

A key idea underlies her passion for teaching children: Chess helps young students learn better in school. According to America’s Foundation for Chess, chess is part of school curricula in “nearly 30 nations around the world, including Venezuela, Iceland and Russia.”

Her system emphasizes teaching 5- and 6-year-olds how to play chess and strengthening areas in their brains so that they can process more information years later. While studying and playing this critical-thinking game helps normal children, Donaldson says it also benefits those who have difficulty focusing in school.

Roger Lu of Kirkland has seen how Donaldson’s instruction has helped his son Anthony do well as a second-grader at John Muir Elementary School. A chess enthusiast himself, he said, “I was seeking a very good coach to teach my kid to learn chess. That’s why I think this program is very good for the kids.”

He says his son has already reached one goal of having fun as an advanced chess player. He also pointed out, “His thinking ability, his problem-solving ability have progressed at the same time his chess skills have improved.”

Yoo said about her son, “I finally figured out why he loves this so much — it’s an all-day play date.”

For more information about the WGM Elena Chess School, go to www.chessplayer.com. For more information about the 2008 Burt Lerner National Elementary Championship, go to main.uschess.org/tournaments/2008/elem/.

James Tabafunda can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.

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