Dave

31 gen 20234 min

King of chess

Five-year-old Irish boy takes on world at chess

Warm-up

Which sports do you enjoy playing or watching? Why?

Key words

Match the following words 1-10 with their correct definitions a-i:

  1. an opponent

  2. focus

  3. a grandmaster

  4. hesitant

  5. join

  6. upset

  7. a prodigy

  8. enthusiasm

  9. pick somebody

    • a. a person who has the highest level of skill at playing chess

    • b. a person who you compete against in a sports event or other contest

    • c. a person, especially a child, with an exceptional talent

    • d. concentration

    • e. energetic interest in a particular subject or activity

    • f. nervous or uncertain (about doing something)

    • g. to become a member of (a team, etc.)

    • h. to choose someone (e.g. for a team)

    • i. worried, unhappy or angry

Find the information

Read the article on your phone or tablet and find the following information

  1. How old is Shane Melaugh?

  2. Which country does he represent?

  3. When did he learn to play chess?

  4. How many Irish grandmasters are there?

  5. How many young people in Ireland are involved in chess?

  6. At what age do pupils usually join the chess club at Shane’s school?

  7. How often does Shane play chess?

  8. How old was Shane when he learnt how to set up a chess board?

A player so young he cannot read or write is astonishing the chess scene in Ireland by taking on opponents more than twice his age.

At the age of five, Shane Melaugh has already become the youngest person to represent Ireland as a member of the under-12s team.

Shane, who has just finished his first year at primary school, has attracted a lot of attention for what is described as his "quite exceptional" talent for the game. He is also described as "a nice kid".

The boy, who was taught to play at the age of three by his grandfather, quickly showed both a passion for chess and a natural talent. Experts who have observed him predict he will go far in the game.

According to his chess coach, Alan Turnbull: "Shane is very talented for his age and has beaten much older pupils. In terms of his talent, he is very much above anyone I have taught."

Mark Quinn of the Irish Chess Union said that in addition to his natural talent, the boy had exceptional focus and concentration. "He's a completely normal five-year-old," he said. "But he's completely obsessed with the game at the moment. He loves it."

The emergence of an Irish chess prodigy is very unexpected because the country has produced no internationally-known players and is normally associated with physical sports such as rugby and football.

It has no homegrown grandmasters, and its only player of that rank is a Russian who moved to the country some years ago. But chess is popular at school level, where about 10,000 young people are involved in the game.

Shane's mother Linda said yesterday: "He's very, very smart. He learnt to play quite fast, he has a natural talent. He's just a normal kid, but as soon as you put the chessboard in front of him he's a genius."

His primary school was at first hesitant about accepting him into the chess club because he was so young, and players generally join at around the age of eight. But after a few games, teachers noticed his talent.

His mother says he is not upset at losing a game. "He's very competitive. If he loses the first thing out of his mouth is - I'll play you again.

"He doesn't want to play all day every day but he won't go to bed until he has a game of chess. He can beat me easily, and now he can beat his father. He can't even read or write and he has been picked to play chess for Ireland."

Mrs Melaugh recalled: "When Shane was a baby he used to pick up chess pieces and play with them. And then when Shane was about three my dad taught him how to set up the board and he learned how to play."

According to chess experts, the careers of young prodigies are difficult to predict, and some talented players may lose enthusiasm after some years.

At the moment, however, Shane shows no signs of a potential loss of interest. According to his grandfather, Peter Mc Grath: "I never force him to play - he is always forcing me to get the board out. Instead of his breakfast, he wants a game."

Shane himself, when asked why he plays chess, replies, "I just do. I love it up to heaven."

Original article by David McKittrick

©The Independent News and Media, First published in The Independent, 18/06/2007

Checking understanding

Choose the best answer according to the text:

Prepositions

Complete the phrases from the text with a preposition and write a sentence for each expression:

  1. obsessed ________ something

  2. associated ________ something

  3. involved ________ an activity

  4. hesitant ________ doing something

  5. upset ________ losing a game

Check your answers by looking for examples in the text.

Talking point

Are there any young sporting talents in your country?

Who is your country’s greatest sportsman or sportswoman?

Grammar Tense review

Look at the following underlined structures and match them to the correct tenses and rules below:

  1. He doesn’t want to play all day every day.

  2. The country has produced no internationally-known players.

  3. When Shane was a baby he used to pick up the chess pieces and play with them.

  4. My dad taught him how to set up the board and he learnt how to play.

  5. Shane, who has just finished his first year at primary school, has attracted a lot of attention for his exceptional talent for playing chess.

  • a. We use used to + infinitive to talk about a past routine or state that doesn’t happen or exist now.

  • b. We use the past simple to talk about completed events in the past.

  • c. We use the present perfect simple to talk about recently-completed events or changes that have a connection with the present.

  • d. We use the present perfect simple to talk about something that happened or didn’t happen at an unspecified time before now.

  • e. We use the present simple to talk about a present routine or state.

Complete the sentences below with the past simple or present perfect simple.

Used to...

  • What is the negative form of ‘used to’?

  • How do we form questions with ‘used to’?

Now do the same with the present simple or ‘used to’ + infinitive.

Work in pairs.

Tell your partner four things about yourself using the present simple, present perfect simple, past simple and ‘used to’ + infinitive, for

example:

I used to get up at 6am every morning.
Four years ago, I changed my school/job.
I have been to Italy five times.
I don’t go out very often these days.

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