Ashburn Boy Draws International Master

The chance of winning was less than one percent, and closer to zero. But one 10-year-old Ashburn beat those narrow odds in a recent  chess match against International Master Nikolay Andrianov.

The boy, Alexander Chang, turned his statistical improbability into a surprising outcome when he drew Andrianov in a chess camp sponsored by the Ashburn Chess Club. While a draw does not represent a win, it's not every day such a young chess enthusiast fares so well against a master.

Chang, who lives in Belmont Country Club, held an Elo rating of 800 in chess, indicating the mathematical odds of a positive result were close to nil against a player like Andrianov, rated at 2,400.  The rating system was devised by Hungarian Arpad Elo for the world chess community, and is now used in other head-to-head competitions.

"I was just relieved," said Chang on the result, who used his maneuvering skills carefully in the draw against Andrianov. It probably helped that the master was playing  against nine other competitors simultaneously. In the event, Andrianov played a group of ten players  one move at a time.

But Chang's feat proved quite significant when the club conducted another competition with adults and more advanced participating, all of whom were easily blown away by the Russian master.

Chang himself knows that chess is a tough game. Though his parents, Sam and Ingrid, and his grandmother, Alice Bagshaw, wholeheartedly support his training, they proceed with a balanced approach to his development. Last summer, they skipped the National Scholastics in chess, and opted instead to develop his interests in music and sports. He played cello and trained in tennis and golf.

Like many other kids, he also plays basketball, soccer and baseball. A student in the gifted program at Newton-Lee, he is also part of Mensa and The John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. 

His dad, Sam says that "chess helps Alex focus with school work and learn to have more self-discipline."

Sam added that it has also helped Alexander's self confidence.

Alexander Chang participates with the Ashburn Chess Club, the leading chess organization in Loudoun County with a total of more than 200 members in both its club and online meetings.  The club meets regularly at Sakasa Tea and Coffee on George Washington Boulevard in Ashburn every Tuesday from 5:00pm-7:30pm and on Saturdays from 3:00pm-7:30pm.

Andrianov was the Soviet junior champion in 1980, and had the distinction of beating former world champion Garry Kasparov at that time.  He now lives in Arizona and is a close associate to Ashburn Chess Club.