Draw with Grandmaster for chess prodigy Alex
By Dorking Advertiser | Posted: September 25, 2015
By Joshua Searle joshua.searle@essnmedia.co.uk
AN ASHTEAD youngster has shown he has all the right moves on the chess board after forcing a draw against a Grandmaster.
Prodigy Alex Golding, a student at Reigate Grammar School, has already won a string of titles, including the under-11 Patrick Robello Cup, and represented England at the European Youth Chess Championships.
The 11-year-old started playing chess when he was six, after his older brother James received a set for Christmas.
Since then Alex, who lives in Ashtead, has competed in more than a dozen competitive tournaments and is currently the highest-rated English chess player in the under 12 category for both the English Chess Federation and FIDE (World Chess Federation).
But his most impressive feat so far, according to mum Christine, is forcing the draw against grandmaster Keith Arkell at last month's British Chess Championships.
Mrs Golding said: "I think he has just got this mental gift and this really intellectual brain.
"There's so much for him to learn with chess. Unlike at school where you are limited with what work you can do year by year, with chess he can work up to Grandmaster level. He can go as far as he wants with it.
"We are not pushing him. We just keep encouraging him, but there's a lot of people coming to us saying he could be a potential world championships player and they say he could get up to Grandmaster level."
Away from the chess board, Alex is a good "all-rounder" at school and a keen sportsman, although he particularly excels in maths.
The rank of Grandmaster is given to players by FIDE and is the highest honour in the chess world apart from world champion.
The current chess world champion, Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen from Norway, became a Grandmaster aged 13 and won the world title shortly before his 23rd birthday.
Mrs Golding told the Mirror: "Alex loves the competitiveness of chess. He likes the challenge, something to really test his skills and with chess there's so many calculations going on.
"No game is the same. He loves the active games, where there's lots going on with lots of pieces moving about.
"Quite often when he plays a game a group of people just stand around watching him because they are so excited about what he's doing."
[pgn][Event "British Championships"]
[Site "Coventry ENG"]
[Date "2015.07.29"]
[EventDate "2015.07.27"]
[Round "3.4"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[White "Alex Golding"]
[Black "Keith Arkell"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "62"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nxc6
bxc6 7. e5 Qc7 8. Bf4 Ne7 9. Bd3 Ng6 10. Bxg6 hxg6 11. O-O f5
12. Re1 Rb8 13. b3 Be7 14. Qd2 Bb7 15. Bg5 c5 16. Bxe7 Kxe7
17. Rad1 Bc6 18. Qe3 Qa5 19. Rd6 Qb4 20. Red1 Rh5 21. Qd2 Re8
22. a3 Qh4 23. h3 Rg5 24. Rxc6 dxc6 25. Na4 Kf7 26. Nxc5 Rh5
27. Qd7+ Re7 28. Qxc6 Qf4 29. Rd7 Qc1+ 30. Kh2 Qf4+ 31. Kg1
Qc1+ 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
