Two RR teens attend T. Bay chess tourney

Ken Johnston
Editor

Two Rainy River teens travelled to Thunder Bay to try and checkmate the competition over the weekend.
Ethan Swentik and Marty Johnston competed in the NORMAX Scholastic Chess Championship Saturday.
Johnston, 14, had the best showing of the pair, coming in second in the age 14-15 category. Swentik, while not in the prizes did do well, coming in fourth in age group 12-13.
Johnston’s silver medal day saw him play five games of which he won four. He won the first two games, both of which he said were quite long. “I was ahead early on but they would not resign, so it took a while for me to checkmate them,” explained Johnston.
In his third game he played John Pyykka,17, of Geraldton who is competing for the last year as a teen. The game was very close for a long time. Then Pyykka went a pawn up on Johnston and threatened to turn it into a queen. That proved to be Johnston’s demise as the extra queen won the game for Pyykka.
Johnston then won the next two games, but due to the loss was in second place. A Thunder Bay player had a perfect record and took home first.
For second he won $160 in cash, money he said will be used to help pay for his trip to the national chess championships in Kapuskasing this July. This will be his third appearance at the nationals. His best showing was 11th in his age group three years ago.