Chess isn't just for boys

Fremont girls prove chess isn't just for boys
By Linh Tat
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 05/24/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT

FREMONT — Chess may be a male-dominated game, but earlier this month a female-dominant team from Weibel Elementary School achieved what was quite possibly a first: It took home a top prize from this year's National Elementary School Chess Championships.

The students — Alisha Chawla, Joanna Liu and Serafina Show, all 8 years old, along with teammate Michael Wang — tied with another team for first place in the K-3 division at nationals, held in Atlanta. The Weibel team also placed third in the K-6 overall championship.

Another Fremont school, Mission San Jose Elementary, which was last year's overall champion, placed second in the K-1 division, fourth in K-3, third in K-5 and ninth in the K-6 overall championship. It was the only team in the nation to have Top 10 placements in all four divisions, Coach Joe Lonsdale said.

Alan Kirshner, who has coached the Weibel team the past 21 years, hopes this year's showing by the K-3 team will encourage more girls to play chess.

In addition to Alisha, Joanna and Serafina, the K-3 team's alternate, Desiree Ho, was a girl.

"It's hard to find girls in any tournament, but to find four girls, all strong, (on a) team, it's very rare," said Christy Lin, Serafina's mother.

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I like to win

Fremont girl is a chess star at age 7
Carl Steward
Bay Area News Group columnist
Article Created: 06/18/2008 06:28:56 PM PDT

FREMONT — Alisha Chawla isn't much for dolls, but she loves the children's book, "A Little Princess," and adores the queen.

How fitting for Fremont's 7-year-old little princess of chess, the highest-rated female player for her age in Northern California, who is rapidly becoming one of the best in the country.

Alisha is adorable. She's sweet and petite. Like most 7-year-olds, she's precocious at times and shy at others. For her first newspaper interview, she pretty much stuck to one-word answers and required frequent eye-glance reassurance from her mother.

But on a chess board, particularly wielding her favorite piece — the queen — Little Miss Chawla quickly transforms into a tiger. She moves the pieces authoritatively and thumps them hard onto the board wherever she places them. It's intimidating, even for an adult sports columnist who challenged her to a game.

"I like to win," Alisha said with an innocent but confident smile.

A large shelf in her room proves that she's already won a lot. It's loaded with trophies, and she quickly removed her piano recital and softball trophies to display just the ones she's accumulated playing chess — 22 by her count. It looked like more.

One of the largest trophies in Alisha's growing collection came less than two weeks ago, when she tied for first in her age group at the Las Vegas International Chess Festival, winning four of five games.

Her achievement landed her a spot in the prestigious Susan Polgar National Invitational For Girls at Texas Tech in July, an event that will bring together the country's top young female players.

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