Wang no rook-ie at 16

By JARED DENNIS Jared.dennis@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
A mixture of youthful exuberance and cunning tactical nous has seen 16-year-old Puchen Wang crowned the 114th chess champion of New Zealand.
The Auckland Grammar School student only needed a draw in the final round yesterday to take the title ? and that didn't take long in coming.
Wang was up against fellow teenager Gino Thorton and the pair quickly decided to call the match a draw after only a few moves and headed off to catch a movie at the theatre before the afternoon presentation of the Giant Silver Rook. It was a well deserved rest for the new champion, after he went through the 11-round tournament at Wanganui's Collegiate Motor Inn without losing a match.
Along with his half with Thorton, who finished 11th out of the 12 players at the event, Wang's three other draws came against the three best placed finishers after himself, Russell Dive, Robert Smith and Anthony Ker.
"That wasn't really the plan," Wang said of his consistent performance.
"I was just trying to play my best in all the games and that is just how it all worked out."
The new champion learnt the game aged six from his father while they still lived in China. Due to the number of players and his age he only ever attended small tournaments in his country of origin.
Since moving with his family to New Zealand in 1998 for "a better climate and better opportunities", Wang's chess has flourished.
He put in an impressive performance at the world championships in the under 10 division and since then big things have been expected.
He said he rates this victory as by far his best tournament win, although he has attended Olympiads in Spain in 2004 and Italy in 2006.
The big chess aim for the 16-year-old is to reach International Master status, the level below Grand Master. He said the main thing he likes about the sport is "beating people" and the big national tournaments such as this 114th Congress are his preferred arena of play, as he likes the competition that comes with playing the country's best players.
Wanganui Chess Club president and event organiser Gordon Hoskyn said Wang's win came as no surprise to the chess fraternity.
"Since he went to the world championships in the under-10s he was always earmarked as a future New Zealand champion," he said.
"It was not so much a matter of if but a matter of when." Hoskyn, who himself is an experienced player, said he expects Wang to be there or there abouts for many national championships to come.
"Once he fully applies himself to chess he will be very good.
"There are likely to be many titles coming up for him." Those titles may just come quickly with the New Zealand Rapid Championship and the New Zealand Lightning Championship both on this weekend in Wanganui.