Las Vegas teen on his way to becoming a chess grandmaster

Rarely does a 10-year-old dust off a couple of old chess books, teach himself to play and then -- within five years -- successfully compete against international grandmasters.

Yet such a tale unfolded for 15-year-old Las Vegan Patrick Hummel, a Meadows School student.

At age 12 he earned the highest title awarded by the U.S. Chess Federation -- national master -- and today is the highest rated chess player in Nevada.

Hummel's achievement is hailed in the chess world, where fewer than 1 percent of all players earn the master title. It's especially notable for a Nevadan to reach such heights, as there are only a few annual tournaments in this state that offer competition at that level.

Recognizing Hummel's potential to be a world-renowned player, the U.S. Chess Federation featured him on the August cover of its Chess Life magazine, which is circulated to its 80,000 members and is available for sale around the world. The cover story praised Hummel's first-place finish in the 1999 National High School Championship in April in Sioux Falls, S.D.

He's competed in more than 450 tournaments, including a recent one in California where he defeated international grandmaster Jaan Ehlvest of Estonia. His record against Ehlvest -- so strong a player that he was invited to be among the 100 players competing for the world championship tournament held recently at Caesars Palace -- is one win, one loss and one draw.

What is so remarkable about Hummel is the relatively small amount of time he has been playing, according to several experts.

"He started playing just over five years ago," said Dan Conver, a local tournament director, chess writer and instructor at the Meadows School. "And he's beaten six grandmasters, which is pretty hard to do at 15.

"I've always known he was going to be a titled player," Conver said, referring to the ranks brilliant players attain, such as master, senior master, international master and international grandmaster.

"Now I'm sure he's going to be a grandmaster," Conver said. "There's really no limit to what he can do."

With a U.S. Chess Federation rating exceeding 2400, Hummel already is considered a senior master in this country. His next step would be a title conferred by the international chess federation, attainable by achieving plus scores against other titled players in strong tournaments rated by the world body.

It all began on a family trip to visit relatives in Seattle. Hummel, already a math whiz, watched his dad and his great uncle play a game of chess.

Hummel later came across some of his father's old chess books, dusted them off and read them -- multiple times. Shortly afterward he was setting up a board in his room to play games against himself.

"I had no idea I'd be any good at it," Hummel said. "I was just sort of fooling around."

After discovering his interest in chess, his parents bought him more books on the game, and six months later Hummel played his first USCF-rated game in San Jose, Calif.

His bedroom is his trophy room. He has more than 100 chess books stacked tightly on shelves, about 50 trophies neatly placed and a photo of him and former World Chess Champion Anatoly Karpov on the wall.

"He works very hard," Conver said. "And he has a lot of natural ability, which has a lot to do with spatial relationships, moving things around in your head."

Conver, a friend of Hummel's, said he's never coached him. "We'd point out some things but he's done almost everything himself."

So much so that when he first started out he'd spend 20 hours a weekend studying.

Hummel studies with International Master John Watson of Carlsbad, Calif., and is currently seeking an international title awarded by the International Chess Federation, or FIDE as it's known by its French acronym. This title is difficult to attain for U.S. players -- only four tournaments in this country are rated by FIDE.

At FIDE-rated tournaments, the competition includes a number of titled international players. There are at least nine rounds and the overall strength of the competition is extremely high. The goal for untitled players is to achieve a "norm."

For Hummel, seeking the title of international master, achieving a norm would be possible only if he performed at the level expected of an international master. Then he would have to achieve that same norm in two more FIDE-rated tournaments within six years to gain the title. Many international masters had to compete in 10 to 25 tournaments before gaining three norms.

Hummel is on his way. He successfully competed in a FIDE-rated tournament in June in Vermont, where he received his first norm. His family is looking for a Las Vegas sponsor to help defray traveling expenses so he may continue his quest.

The international title holds some prestige. With it Hummel would be invited to more high-caliber events and a possible career in chess.

"There's a possibility that this could be a career," Hummel said. "I really need to see how good I get before I go into it."

Chess was just the next step for Hummel, who -- prior to playing the game -- enjoyed math and logic puzzles and calculations.

The straight-A student, who took calculus as an independent study course in the ninth grade and later achieved a 5 -- the highest possible score -- on a national calculus exam, said math is still his main focus in school. Other interests include swimming -- he is on the school's swim team -- and computer games.

But he admits he is dedicated to chess. He downloads chess databases onto his computer and studies avidly.

"There's a lot of reasons to study the games," he said. "One of the things I look at is the openings."

More than 450 of his tournament games are recorded in his computer so he can study them -- including his games against Ehlvest.

Hummel said he was not intimidated when playing against the 36-year-old Estonian grandmaster, who is among the world's elite players.

"I don't really think about who I'm playing in the game. But it's always a good experience to play strong players," Hummel said. "From every game I play, I learn and become better."

Sometimes when you are the weaker player it's easier to improve, Hummel said. It's easier to pinpoint mistakes and weaknesses.

He did admit, however, that one of the most exciting wins for him was the recent game against Ehlvest, which was analyzed in the Los Angeles Times chess column written by International Master Jack Peters.

"I had a small advantage in the opening game," Hummel said. "Then he played a dubious move in the middle game. I exploited it to get an advantage. Then I had a large advantage. With a little tactical play I was able to win a pawn and the game was essentially over."

Hummel said his game has matured. Before, if he didn't win a pawn in the first 20 moves, he was disappointed

"I can slowly grind people down now," he said jokingly.

When he began playing chess, his openings were probably his weakest points, he said. Now his endgames, which used to be his strongest, are his weakest.

How does he improve? "A lot of it is experience," he said.

Most of Hummel's matches are out of state. During the school year he travels once or twice a month. Last summer's matches took him to Vermont, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Canada. He also spent three weeks in Spain for the World Youth Chess Tournament.

Winning the high school championship in April as a freshman has been done only two other times, Conver said. The two former freshman winners are now grandmasters.

The chess program at Meadows School began as a result of Hummel's success. By the time it was put together, Hummel was too advanced for the program, Conver said. So he began helping other students.

To give an idea of the ratings for students at Meadows School, Conver said most are at 300 or 400 when they start to play tournaments. "They're up to 600 after one year. Patrick was about a 1200 player when he started tournaments."

The average rating for the 80,000 members of the U.S. Chess Federation is 1300.

The world's top chess players make six-figure incomes. An average grandmaster, however, might make only $40,000 or $50,000, Conver said. The recently completed world championship tournament at Caesars resulted in $600,000 for the winner, Alexander Khalifman.

Hummel attended many of the games at Caesars and said he didn't mind sitting through them, even when they went on for hours.

"People can think for a long time. I've seen someone think for 85 minutes," he said.

Well before the final move was played in the tournament, Hummel had spotted the winner: "Khalifman will win."

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