Underdog makes his move
Local teen takes on nation’s chess wunderkinds
At this year’s U.S. Junior Championship of chess, the tournament’s dark horse — check that, dark knight — will hail from Houston.
Starting Saturday, Bovey Liu, a 15-year-old student at Carnegie Vanguard High School, will stare down nine of the nation’s top youth players at the invitation-only tournament, the pinnacle of American youth chess. He will match up against teenage grandmasters — the highest title possible — and opponents tutored by the nation’s most famous living chess player, Garry Kasparov.
And he’ll do it with the lowest ranking in the field — No. 84 among American juniors, 50 spots behind the next lowest-rated
player — making Houston’s entrant the ultimate underdog.
“I’m definitely looking forward to it,” said Bovey, who will enter 11th grade this fall. “I’m pretty excited for this tournament because it’s a once-in-alifetime chance for me, but I’m also a tad bit nervous because it’s such a big tournament.”
Will face a loaded field
For Bovey, the event marks a high point in his eight-year chess career, one that has taken him to Brazil, China and all four corners of the U.S. He earned his guaranteed spot in the U.S. Junior Championship by winning the 2016 U.S. Junior Open in New Orleans, outlasting 24 competitors.
In St. Louis, Bovey will face a loaded field that includes four players ranked among the top 10 chess juniors nationally. Over 10 days, he will play each of the nine competitors once, his every move broadcast online, in matches expected to last at least four hours each.
“It’s basically a tough mental exercise,” Bovey said. “When I play tennis for a few hours, I get tired. It’s the same when I play chess for four hours.”
If the test seems ominous, Bovey handles it with easygoing humility. He demurs when asked about his strengths as a player, lauding his forthcoming competition as “so talented and skilled.” He’s tempering personal expectations, aiming to replicate the score of his friend and fellow Houstonian, Curran Ray Han, another underdog who finished with three draws and six losses at the event in 2015.
“Maybe a few draws, hopefully,” Bovey said.
Never mind that Bovey won the 2014 state middle school championship, finished second at this year’s Texas State and Amateur Championship, and tied for third at a premier national event for high school students last summer. Never mind that in his youth, he has achieved a life master chess rating of 2,340.
That Bovey and Curran reached the championships in a three-year span adds to Houston’s chess cache, which has lagged behind Texas’ top chess hotbed, Dallas. Three of the top five junior players in the U.S. reside in metro Dallas, including the top-ranked player at this week’s championship. Houston, with a metro area of more than 1 million junior-age potential players, has just 1,200 juniors registered to compete through the U.S. Chess Federation, said Kwunnie Ng, owner of the Center64 chess club on Houston’s west side.
“For the size of Houston, I would say it’s not a big number,” Ng said. “Chess has always been a relatively big thing, I think, when it comes to scholastics in elementary schools. But for whatever reason, it tends to die out after kids get to be teenagers, so there’s this huge gap between elementary school and adult players.”
Started at an early age
For Bovey, the tournament comes without much pressure, in large part because he’s kept the pressure off himself.
Bovey has stayed devoted to chess since he fell for it at age 7, when he saw the game played at Curran’s house, entered his first tournament and immediately took first place. But unlike some chess counterparts, Bovey splits his time among various interests: tennis, competitive swimming, piano and volunteering in hospitals. He receives chess training from a coach through Skype, but during the school year, he sometimes devoted as little as half an hour a day to the game.
“For most of the players in that competition, they just do chess,” said Bovey’s mother, Shumei Song. “He has much less training than the others, so that’s why he’s the underdog. Bovey is lucky to be selected to be there and it’s a very good opportunity to challenge himself, but he’s also well-rounded.”
As tournament time approached, Bovey dove headlong into preparation. He’s spent a few hours a day working through chess puzzles, which teach him to think several moves ahead. He’s also mining online databases containing his opponents’ previously recorded games — which could present him with a slight advantage.
“I have about 20-ish games on there, which isn’t too much compared to the No. 1 seed, who has, like, 400 games on there,” Bovey said.
Straight A student
Once the school year starts, Bovey’s focus will return to academics and college test preparation. He sports all A’s so far in high school, with four Advanced Placement classes in the books. His list of potential colleges remains under construction, with an eye on escaping the Houston heat for a few years. Biology has peaked his interest, perhaps a passeddown proclivity from his parents, both cancer researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
For now, Bovey’s focus remains on the challenge facing him in Missouri, where a gauntlet of top players awaits.
“I’m not trying to think too much about the result,” Bovey said. “I’m just focusing on the game, and the result will come with it.”