Kayden Troff

NYT chess columnist Dylan Loeb McClain notes a promising 10 year-old chess player who just won the Utah game-in-60 championship (all moves must be played in 60 minutes).  Good for this kid, Kayden Troff.

A few thoughts:

1)  This does not mean that he’s the best player in Utah.  “Game-in-60″ is not a standard competitive tournament format, and the best players aren’t always those that win on relatively short time controls.  (60 minutes is shortish.)

2)  But, for all I know, this kid actually is the best player in Utah, and needless to say, better than I could ever hope to be.

3)  The KSL video report suggests that he won the title by beating a 70 year-old.  That supports point #1–70 year-olds generally do not play at the top levels of competitive chess.   Kasparov was considered old when he retired in his early 40s.  If a 70 year-old were to win, that should be as big a story as a 10 year-old winning.

5)  His mom says that she expects him to be a grandmaster, and I don’t doubt that he will be.  But note that the grandmaster title has become somewhat devalued in recent years by title inflation.

6)  McClain wonders a little ruefully what Troff might be able to accomplish if he didn’t spend 7 hours a day playing chess.  My guess is that he’d spend that time playing video games.  So let him play chess if he wants (but get him outside too).  He’ll probably burn out, and that’s fine too.  I gather that professional chess is a crummy life.