Dad got him rook, er… hooked during pandemic and eight year old now a chess prodigy

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This article was published 20/06/2023 (883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While Aiden Ling’s peers were learning to tie their shoes, he was on his way to becoming one of Winnipeg’s youngest decorated chess champions.

“I started playing in January 2021,” the Linden Christian School second-grader said. “I was six.”

Several medals and three championship trophies later, Aiden has made a name for himself as a young prodigy in Manitoba’s — and more recently, Canada’s — chess community.

“He won the championship for Grade 1. This year, he won Manitoba Provincial Champion for Grade 2,” his mother, Joan Wang said.

“Then I got third in nationals,” Aiden added, referring to the 34th Annual Canadian Chess Challenge hosted in Montreal last month.

Over Zoom, eight-year-old Aiden sits next to his mother in a yellow T-shirt and a pair of rectangular glasses. His wit, like his chess skill, is far more developed than what one might expect for a second grader. (“I don’t know. Maybe the one yesterday?” he said when asked about his favourite game).

Two winters ago, while his parents searched for ways to keep Aiden’s mind occupied during the pandemic, his father introduced him to the centuries-old game.

“My dad just asked me to watch a chess video,” he said. “I started liking it, so then I just went onto YouTube and searched for videos (on) how to move the pieces and stuff.”

While spending most of his kindergarten year isolated from kids his age, Aiden had two options: he could compete against his father or an anonymous player on the internet.

Not long after, his chess game began surpassing his father’s. Noticing his extraordinary aptitude, Wang signed him up for lessons through the Chess’n Math Association about a year after he first tried his hand at the game.

But it wasn’t until he won the Manitoba Provincial Chess Championship in his grade category last year that Wang realized chess was more than just a hobby for Aiden.

“It sounded like he was doing good, but we didn’t think he was really good until he started winning all those chess tournaments,” Wang said. “I feel proud of him.”

According to Jeremie Piche of the Manitoba Scholastic Chess Association, the number of active young chess players in Manitoba has increased considerably in the last few years. The average participant count in tournaments has increased from about 40 to more than 100.

“When we get 2½ times our normal number, it’s a lot,” Piche said.

Piche attributes the surge to the lack of social activities available to children during the pandemic and the popularity of the Netflix chess-themed series, The Queen’s Gambit, which was released around the same time.

“Kids needed something to do, and that was one thing they can do online, whereas they couldn’t go out and play with their friends,” Piche said. “Our tournaments are back on and our numbers are through the roof.”

While students involved in the Manitoba Scholastic Chess Association’s tournaments typically play against children of their own age, Aiden is an exception.

“(He’s) playing against kids who might be in Grade 11 and 12,” Piche said. “You definitely notice when little Aiden is playing against a bigger kid, doing well.”

Every Tuesday, Wang drops Aiden off at the Canadian Mennonite University for the weekly Manitoba Chess Association tournament, where he competes with players far older and taller than him. When he’s not at school or eyeing the chess board, he plays tennis, soccer and piano.

For Aiden, a typical chess game might begin with his favourite opening: a four-knight scotch.

“It’s kind of an aggressive play on your opponents. They have to know some theory,” Aiden said.

From there, he might embark on some of the moves he keeps in his back pocket: the fork, or, if he’s feeling brave, the pin, which makes his opponent unable to make their next move without exposing a highly valuable piece.

Like many chess players, Aiden looks up to Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen, as well as Chinese grandmaster Ding Liren, who won the World Chess Championship in Kazakhstan last month.

“We were planning a trip back to China in August, and he was asking, ‘Will I have a chance to play with Ding while we are in China?’” Wang said, laughing.

Bombarded with the distractions of short-form video content on platforms such as TikTok, the president of the Manitoba Chess Association believes chess is an antidote to the rapid, attention-span-draining pace of today’s world.

“It’s a game that requires you to think before you act,” Blair Rutter said. “The best players take their time to consider all possibilities.”

While Ling’s chess talent far surpasses his age group, he’s still only eight years old. Competing in tournaments longer than an hour leaves him itching to break free from his chair.

“Because he’s still too young, he can’t focus for too long,” Wang said. “As he grows older, his focus span will be much better than now.”

After winning third place in his age category in Montreal last month, Aiden will head to Calgary in July to compete in the Canadian Youth Chess Challenge. Rutter said the competition will determine Aiden’s national ranking.

A common theme among parents of former young chess champions Wang has spoken with is that interest in the game wanes with age. While no one knows how long Aiden’s passion for chess will last, Wang said they’ll continue to enrol him in lessons and take family road trips to tournaments for as long as he wishes.

“When they were young, they were so into chess and playing very well, but when they grew up, other interests took over, so we’ll see how many years he will be into chess,” Wang said.

“Till I’m 100,” Aiden replied before pausing and thinking a moment.

“But then I’ll just care about sleeping.”

cierra.bettens@freepress.mb.ca