4 ms·

In his age category.

noir_lord 8y ago
He's 27th in the country out of his age range and he's up against a lot of kids with every advantage in life. That's damn impressive any way you cut it, just under 1587USCF meaning he's playing at about the grade of an average active adult chess player (and far beyond an average player)...at 8 after a year living in pretty grim life circumstances. Little dude is inspiring.
- bluGill 8y ago
  At 9 years old most kids have not been playing long. It wouldn't surprise me if he studied more hours than everyone else in his class (homeless implies no other toys to play with) which begs the question why are the other 26 better than him with less study. Note that wouldn't surprise me doesn't mean much - I have no clue how much study he does.
  - emiliobumachar 8y ago
    Studying more then the other competitors is definitely to one's credit, arguably more so then any innate talent.
vorotato 8y ago
Clearly you're not familiar with competitions.
ivanhoe 8y ago
well, if his rating is 1473, then he plays chess after just one year of learning better than I can after 30+ years...
wwweston 8y ago
At a state level or above, distinction in any age category is a distinction. I think I was about 11 when I learned the game, and before long with no particular study I could beat most of my neighborhood peer group and some adults. Then I actually went to my local middle school competition, was handed a series of decisive defeats, and learned there's a world of people who begin to make a serious study of it in childhood, same as there are serious students and even prodigies when it comes to musical instruments, and in that arena, I was nowhere near the top of the local pool. Let alone a New York pool, where I suspect there are 8 year olds that could give many HN participants a run for their money.
- mbrameld 8y ago
  > At a state level or above, distinction in any age category is a distinction. But to the casual reader who isn't familiar with age brackets in chess tournaments, the implication is that the 8-year-old was competing in a singular competition open to everyone and won. So while it is very impressive that this 8-year-old won the state championship in his age bracket, it is far less impressive than if he had competed against all ages and won. Sometimes clarification is just that. Nobody is taking anything away from the kid's accomplishments by pointing out that it was an age-bracketed competition unless you're hoping people are mislead into believing the kid did more than he did.
  - lazyasciiart 8y ago
    The casual reader could always read the article, which is pretty explicit about the age bracket. This clarification is only needed for people who want to jump in and discuss the headline, and they don't need encouragement.
fernandopj 8y ago
He's currently at the same level of Praggnanandhaa[1], world's youngest Grandmaster, one year after he started his FIDE rating [2]. It's truly impressive being able to progress as fast as this, from what seems to be still a very basic and informal training. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rameshbabu_Praggnanandhaa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rameshbabu_Praggnanandhaa [2] https://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=25059530 https://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=25059530
- simen 8y ago
  Praggnanandhaa is actually the fourth youngest GM of all time and the third youngest right now, but still, it's impressive. There's no guarantees that this kid will progress at the same rate, but don't let that take away from the feel-good aspect of the story.

He's 27th in the country out of his age range and he's up against a lot of kids with every advantage in life. That's damn impressive any way you cut it, just under 1587USCF meaning he's playing at about the grade of an average active adult chess player (and far beyond an average player)...at 8 after a year living in pretty grim life circumstances. Little dude is inspiring.

bluGill 8y ago
At 9 years old most kids have not been playing long. It wouldn't surprise me if he studied more hours than everyone else in his class (homeless implies no other toys to play with) which begs the question why are the other 26 better than him with less study. Note that wouldn't surprise me doesn't mean much - I have no clue how much study he does.
- emiliobumachar 8y ago
  Studying more then the other competitors is definitely to one's credit, arguably more so then any innate talent.

vorotato 8y ago

Clearly you're not familiar with competitions.

ivanhoe 8y ago

well, if his rating is 1473, then he plays chess after just one year of learning better than I can after 30+ years...

wwweston 8y ago

At a state level or above, distinction in any age category is a distinction. I think I was about 11 when I learned the game, and before long with no particular study I could beat most of my neighborhood peer group and some adults. Then I actually went to my local middle school competition, was handed a series of decisive defeats, and learned there's a world of people who begin to make a serious study of it in childhood, same as there are serious students and even prodigies when it comes to musical instruments, and in that arena, I was nowhere near the top of the local pool. Let alone a New York pool, where I suspect there are 8 year olds that could give many HN participants a run for their money.

mbrameld 8y ago
> At a state level or above, distinction in any age category is a distinction. But to the casual reader who isn't familiar with age brackets in chess tournaments, the implication is that the 8-year-old was competing in a singular competition open to everyone and won. So while it is very impressive that this 8-year-old won the state championship in his age bracket, it is far less impressive than if he had competed against all ages and won. Sometimes clarification is just that. Nobody is taking anything away from the kid's accomplishments by pointing out that it was an age-bracketed competition unless you're hoping people are mislead into believing the kid did more than he did.
- lazyasciiart 8y ago
  The casual reader could always read the article, which is pretty explicit about the age bracket. This clarification is only needed for people who want to jump in and discuss the headline, and they don't need encouragement.

fernandopj 8y ago

He's currently at the same level of Praggnanandhaa[1], world's youngest Grandmaster, one year after he started his FIDE rating [2]. It's truly impressive being able to progress as fast as this, from what seems to be still a very basic and informal training. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rameshbabu_Praggnanandhaa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rameshbabu_Praggnanandhaa [2] https://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=25059530 https://ratings.fide.com/id.phtml?event=25059530

simen 8y ago
Praggnanandhaa is actually the fourth youngest GM of all time and the third youngest right now, but still, it's impressive. There's no guarantees that this kid will progress at the same rate, but don't let that take away from the feel-good aspect of the story.