When Jeffery Xiong of Plano was 5 years old, he wanted a game not many kids play at his age: Chess.
Xiong was at a party with other little boys one weekend when he spotted his first chessboard, his father Wayne Xiong said in a phone interview.
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“And his eyes started to shine after that, and he said, ‘Dad, can I have a set of this?’ ” he said.
That one chess set turned into several chess competitions and wins.
At that young age, a teacher noticed that his son had an exceptional aptitude for chess, Xiong said. The teacher was right. Xiong went on to win his first tournament at age 7 — and the wins are still growing.
“This young superstar has achieved many impressive results since his start at 7 years old,” a spokesperson for the Saint Louis Chess Club stated in an email.SPONSORED CONTENT
Xiong, 20, has earned national and international recognition for his skill in chess.
Starting this week, Xiong will be one of only 12 chess players to compete in the nation’s top chess tournaments, the 2021 U.S. Chess Championship. The tournament takes place Tuesday through Oct. 19 at the Saint Louis Chess Club, in St. Louis, Mo.
The championship is an elite “over-the-board” (face-to-face) national championship event, featuring 12 of the strongest chess players in America, according to the Saint Louis Chess Club. Over the course of 11 rounds, competitors will battle for $194,000 in prize money, qualification into the World Championship cycle, and the coveted title of 2021 U.S. Champion, according to the chess club.
In 2010, Xiong won the Under 10 North American Continental Championship, and then a silver medal in the Under 10 World Championship. He was the 2016 U.S. Junior Champion, and then continued on to become the 2016 World Junior Champion.
In September 2019, Xiong competed in the World Cup where he defeated grandmasters such as Anish Giri and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, pushing him to the quarterfinals.
Much like any competitive sport played at a high level, his commitment over the years has included countless hours of practice, competing, and private lessons from top chess coaches from around the country.NEWS
“He’s like the Michael Jordan of chess,” Wayne Xiong said. “It’s very high-level work and he has a team of coaches to help him. It’s world-class.”
In making that comparison, Xiong noted that his son has been trained by numerous chess grandmasters over the years, including Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion from Russia.
“Kasparov is the greatest chess player of all time, who is the icon of the sport of chess, comparable to Michael Jordan in basketball,” Xiong wrote in an email. “They are both sports greatness that Jeffery and our family admire.”
Sometimes, the coaches fly into Dallas, which the pandemic prevented from happening last year.
Despite his achievements, Xiong says one of the greatest lessons he learned from chess is how to handle defeat.
“It has definitely been a very long road to where I’ve gotten,” Xiong said in a phone interview. “Just like any competitive sport, you have tons of ups and downs.”
“At a certain point where the opposition becomes stronger not get too emotional about losses. It’s mainly mental toughness,” he said.
Chess also provides a good foundation for strategic thinking and learning how to plan ahead, Xiong said.
How much does it take to get to his level?
“It’s pretty similar to having a day job,” Xiong said.
He practices about five to seven hours a day every day of the week.
The basic rules of the game are not difficult to understand, but a deeper understanding of the techniques and strategies involved takes much longer, Xiong said.
A common misconception is that you must be exceptionally smart to play chess, Xiong said. It’s a game that anyone can enjoy, he said.
But his father has tried chess and he isn’t convinced.
“It’s like tennis,” Wayne Xiong said. “We all know how it should be played, but that doesn’t mean we can play it well.”
