Cape youth crowned state seventh-grade chess champ

It wasn't until the queen fell that Bobby Henson began to suspect he had won.

It was luck, he admits; just a quick repositioning of his knight in between his opponent's king and queen, then she belonged to him. After that it was all check, check, check.

The entire game took 25 minutes. In that amount of time, the 13-year-old Cape Girardeau boy became Missouri's seventh-grade chess champion.

Henson, a student at Central Junior High, learned to play chess when he was 8 years old. His grandpa taught him, but he didn't really develop a strong interest until fifth grade when he joined a chess club at Central Middle School.

It was just for kicks, something his friends were doing.

"But then I ended up winning the championship at the end of the year," he said.

He continued playing over the past two years against his friends at school. A few of them decided to sign up for the K-12 Missouri State Chess Championship last Saturday in Columbia. He signed up too, interested in what a statewide championship was like but not really thinking about winning.

The tournament divides players by grade level into pairs. Each player has 30 minutes to make his or her moves during a single game. There were around 18 competitors in the seventh-grade category. Each played five games, with winners moving on to play other winners.

His first game was the quickest. Afterwards, he called his parents, Neil and Nancy Henson, at their home in Cape Girardeau.

"I won my first game. My next opponent's going to be really hard, though," he told them.

They wished him good luck.

He called again after the next match.

"I won my second game. My next opponent's going to be really hard, though," he said.

The same thing happened after his third match, and again after his fourth.

"I won my fourth game. I've only got one more to play," he said.

In the last game Henson came within one move of a checkmate, sending his queen in at the last minute to protect his king.

"The people there were the best from everywhere in Missouri," Henson said. "There wasn't anyone there because they came for fun, everyone was serious about chess."

After winning five of his five games, Henson was named the seventh-grade champion and received a wooden plaque. He also got an invitation to a national tournament in Florida.

He plans to enter the national competition as well as other statewide matches in the future.

"I like looking and trying to get other people to do stuff, trying to trick them," Henson said. "But I don't stress about chess. I just play for fun."

cclark@semissourian.com

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