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Checkmate

André and Jocelyn Morin’s grandfather taught them everything they know about chess. The siblings from Red Lake, Ont.
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Orren Fex, 9, gets ready to play at the northern Ontario Schools Chess Championship finals on Saturday. (Jeff Labine, tbnewswatch.com)
André and Jocelyn Morin’s grandfather taught them everything they know about chess.

The siblings from Red Lake, Ont. traveled to Thunder Bay to participate in the 16th annual northern Ontario Schools Chess Championship finals at the Valhalla Inn on Saturday. It was the first tournament that André, 9, competed in but the second for Jocelyn, 11.

Jocelyn said it was her grandfather who introduced her and her brother to chess and what sparked their interest.

"Our grandfather taught us to play because of a chess match at school," Jocelyn said. "We wanted to learn so we could play next year. Once you know how to play chess it gets easier and easier."

But it wasn’t just the chess match that had the family of four make the seven hour journey from Red Lake. Both children participated in a cross-country running competition at Lakehead University earlier in the morning. The competition overlapped with the chess tournament but each received a half point for their missed games, which is equivalent to a tied game.

André said he had a strategy to get checkmate in three moves but kept his master plan a closely guarded secret. He said he felt excited to compete in his first tournament wanted hoped to win the big trophy.

"Another reason why I play chess is because on the news it says that people who play chess are smarter than people who don’t," André said. "And I want to be one of the smart ones."

John Rutherford, coordinator of the northern Ontario Schools Chess Championship, said that about 290 students from across northern Ontario participated in the tournament, the most he has ever seen. It wasn’t unusual for this chess tournament to receive high numbers because most residents in northern Ontario like to play chess, he added.

"The turn out is a bit more than last year," Rutherford said. "It’s a high number for any Canadian chess tournament. This is the provincial finals. We have so many people who play chess in northern Ontario that the region has been declared a province for chess. This is the biggest provincial finals across Canada and bigger than eso many people who play chess in northern Ontario that the region has been declared a province for chess. This is the biggest provincial finals across Canada and bigger than even in Toronto."

The matches were broken up into seven different age groups. The winners of the tournament will go onto the national finals with the winner going onto the world championships, he said.

Naomi Carradice and Olivier Dallaire won gold for the seven and under category. Leah Dunk won gold for girls in the ages eight and nine category while Reece Byron and Hayden Geary split the gold for boys. Samuelle Dallaire and Eric Gagné won gold for ages 10 and 11, Moriah Carradice and Justin Jean for ages 12 and 13, Ashley Powell and Justin Gagnon for ages 14 and 15, Samantha Powell and Emmanuel Nadeau ages 16 and 17, and Ron Fournier won in the open section.

Rutherford said 79 students were qualified to compete in the national finals sometime in July.





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