MADISON, Wis. - Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov ... and Awonder Liang?
Awonder isn't yet in the same league as those chess legends, but the 9-year-old from Madison has reached a major milestone earlier than they did. In fact, Awonder became the youngest American to achieve grand master status when his play over the weekend at a tournament in Dayton, Ohio, qualified him.
The United States Chess Federation certified Awonder has earned more than 2,200 points. He was a week younger than previous record holder Samuel Sevian, of California, was when he set the mark in 2010.
"Awonder is absolutely tenacious," Mike Nietman, president of the Wisconsin Chess Association told the Wisconsin State Journal (http://bit.ly/10fnfEy). "He takes no prisoners."
"Those guys don't come around very often," said Walter Brown, a rater with the federation. "What Awonder Liang accomplished is very rare."
Awonder is coached by his father, Will, who came to Madison 30 years ago from China.
Points toward the master status are earned most quickly by beating better competition. Awonder made headlines in August 2011 when he defeated a grandmaster, the highest status in the game.
Awonder later won a gold medal within his age group at the World Youth Chess Championships in Brazil in November that year. He was sixth among 9-year-olds in last year's championships in Slovenia.
Brown said although Liang is currently the 10th best player overall in Wisconsin, he has a long road to go to reach higher levels, citing school schedules, distractions facing kids his age, and tougher competitions where every move by every player is dissected on the Internet.
"There are no secrets. It's an awful lot different than when Fischer did it," Brown said. "You have to really work at it and have the desire and be able to handle some setbacks."
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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj
