|
|
2004 Grand Prix K-1 Champion
Ross Hoch
Scholastic chess players start on the path to excellence by learning and improving their chess skills in school chess programs.
Bronxville student Ross Hoch
provides a prime example of a talented player who has emerged from an excellent school chess program.
Ross Hoch is a natural when it comes to chess.
Ross was taught to play chess at age 6 by his older sister. He was soon beating both his sister and brother,
though they are 4 and 6 years older, respectively. They don't play him now - they just share in his victories.
Earlier this year, Ross won the Bronxville
K-1 tournament, an annual event organized by the Bronxville school chess club and the NSCF.
This tournament is open to all students at Bronxville schools and to residents of Bronxville.
The event was supervised by Polly Wright, NSCF tournament director,
Mike Amori,
one of several NSCF chess instructors at Bronxville, and
Sunil Weeramantry, NSCF Executive Director.
Mr. Amori became Ross's chess coach when Ross joined one of the NSCF-sponsored after-school chess classes in Bronxville.
Ross says Mr. Amori is "Pretty good - I learned a lot."
Ross has followed up his classroom instruction
with private lessons from Mr. Amori and from WGM Rusa Goletiani.
Ross started competing in NSCF Grand Prix tournaments in January 2004, beginning with the Columbus School tournament.
This is a late start for a Grand Prix winner, as the 2004 competition started in October 2003. He competed in every event thereafter, scoring his first perfect 4-0 score at Ridgeway in February,
and repeating this result again in May ("Ridgeway is my lucky tournament," says Ross).
This victory set up the tense final encounter of the 2004 NSCF Grand Prix tournament season,
with four players in contention for the K-1 championship.
Ross and Kevin Rosenberg of the Barnard school in New Rochelle went into the May 15 Lincoln Scholastic tied for first place with 40 points each,
with Joseph DeGuardia of Concord Road school in Ardsley and Jonathan Greenberg of the Greenacres school in Scarsdale close behind with 38 points each.
Ross prevailed, scoring another 4-0 to grab the title.
It was a bittersweet victory for Ross, who says that one of the best things he has taken out of his
chess experience is the new friends he has made, especially his friendship with the other K-1 Grand Prix winners.
Johnathan, Joseph, Kevin and Ross became friends and played with each other often, each helping the other to bring up his own level of play.
|
|
Designed by Softhands