Dion Wilson, 16, will represent New Zealand at the Under-16 Fide Olympiad in Colombia. Photo / Rafaella Melo
Dion Wilson, 16, will represent New Zealand at the Under-16 Fide Olympiad in Colombia. Photo / Rafaella Melo
Teenaged chess whizz Dion Wilson is about to make his biggest move yet, representing New Zealand at the Under-16 Fide Olympiad in Barranquilla, Colombia.
The Hastings Boys’ High School student, 16, who learned chess from his mother Paula Wilson when he was 4, left for South America onWednesday.
He will join three Auckland players – Kendrick Zhang, Isabelle Ning and Luna Xu – in a national team competing from August 16 to 23.
“I’m mostly excited. I’m not too nervous. There are strong players there, but we should be able to do well,” Dion told Hawke’s Bay Today.
Dion's achievements include becoming New Zealand’s under-16 champion and winning the Major Open at 14. Photo / Rafaella Melo
He earned his place after becoming NZ’s under-16 champion earlier this year, adding to a growing list of achievements that include winning the Major Open at the NZ Congress at just 14.
“He’s the youngest to have ever won that,” Paula said.
“I am very proud.”
Once Dion’s toughest opponent, Paula now finds herself checkmated by her son in just 15 minutes.
“I know how to play, but when Dion plays ... he can think sometimes five to 10 moves ahead,” she says.
Dion shares a game with his mum Paula, who first taught him to play when he was 4. Photo / Rafaella Melo
Dion says going to Colombia is an opportunity to play against the best.
“I’m excited to play and represent NZ, as well as meet new people from all around the world.”
While he has a natural knack for the game and trains only a few hours per week, his journey has been anything but easy on the family budget.
Unlike in Auckland, where tournaments are frequent and nearby, Hawke’s Bay players travel extensively for competition with costs reaching about $1000 for each tournament.
“It’s a very expensive sport,” Paula says.
“There’s only one tournament a year in Hawke’s Bay. So, if you want to compete to get better, you have to travel. And tournaments go from two days to two weeks.”
The Hawke’s Bay Chess Club has stepped in to help, rallying members to fundraise for Dion’s $3900 airfares.
“When they go on a tournament like this, the chess federation pay for their food and accommodation, but we still have to pay for the flights,” Paula says.
The Hawke’s Bay Chess Club fundraised for Wilson’s $3900 airfares; his goal is to outperform the team’s ranking. Photo / Rafaella Melo
Dion’s goal in Colombia isn’t necessarily to checkmate the competition, but to outperform the team’s current ranking of about 30th out of 90.
“A good result for us would be coming higher than our current ranking, then we kind of performed better than we were expected to,” he said.
For now, Dion is focused on this match, but he hopes to keep playing well into his 20s, perhaps add more titles to his name, and have fun.
“The most important thing is to enjoy chess,” he says.
“Then success comes with it.”
Rafaella Melo has over 10 years of experience as a journalist in Brazil. She has worn many hats, from radio and TV presenter and producer to magazine editor. She joined the Hawke’s Bay Today team in December as a multimedia journalist.
