WHIZ KID: P.J. Gill

It was 16 months ago that Hereford's P.J. Gill, then a sophomore, picked up a chess piece earnestly determined to excel.

"I've always liked playing chess. But I had been playing for fun, you know, since I was really young -- maybe since when I was 10. But I started getting serious about it about a year ago," Gill said.

He credits playing video games as key in developing his focus.

"I've been playing strategy-based games my whole life. Most Xboxes are strategy games," Gill said. "But then, we have a chess club at Hereford High School, and I had gone to some of their meetings and I started looking at variations on the chess board."

It wasn't very long after when Gill and his father Stu realized that the youngster could capitalize on his skill in a material way.

After Gill finished 20th out of 30 in his first scholastic amateur tournament in February 2010, the family hired private instructor Troy Roberts.

"We started using Troy back in February of 2010, and P.J. played in his first major tournament in March," Stu Gill said. "I think that Troy's rather reasonable. It's $30 a lesson, and he spends about an hour and a half with P.J."

Gill entered his second event, the Chicago Open, in March of 2010 and achieved some surprising results.

He defeated Qingde Shi, a 41-year-old computer programmer from Madison, WI., in the seventh and final round, and earned $2,300 after finishing in a four-way tie for first place. 

"My teacher gives me Grand Master video lessons. We watch recordings on them, play online on internet chess clubs and my teacher goes over my games," the teenager said.

Gill added that it's "kind of awesome" to make money for playing chess.

"I'm not really a prodigy or anything," Gill said. "I guess that you would call me a tactician who looks for weakness and key squares. I'm looking to distribute my pieces, set traps."

Stu Gill has since discovered that his son could earn a college scholarship for his skills.

"There are about five scholastic tournaments throughout the year, and the players who participate in those get what is called rally points," Stu Gill said. "The 16 players with the most rally points — and we're hoping that P.J. can be one of the 16 — get to play in what's called the Sweet 16 in February of each year. So February of 2012 is the next one. Whoever wins that tournament is eligible for a scholarship to UMBC."

P.J. Gill also has sharpened his tactical approach as a part of the Bulls' five-member chess club that captured  the overall team title in Baltimore County's first-ever system-wide championship on April 9 at Owings Mills High.

"Our Hereford team, we're probably the most diverse group, because everybody in the chess club has just completely different personalities," Gill said. "But I would say that everybody is just as smart."