His fighting draw against Brophy clinched the 1991 State Title!
Currently Architectural student at ASU
"And there for an hour or maybe two, we shall enter into that rapturous realm where the knight prances and the bishop lurks with his shining sword and the rooks come crashing through double file."
- A.E Gardiner
|
|
Shaun Stevens His fighting draw against Brophy clinched the 1991 State Title! Currently Architectural student at ASU
|
|---|
� � Yes it's true, my game was the decisive point to seal the 1991 High School Chess Championship for Arizona. In retrospect, a chess game it was not. The hours studied, the various team victories and defeats throughout the year had come down to a humble endgame of King, Rook and Pawn. The battle that day between a dusty Rez school and a Catholic prep school surmounted into a battle of the chess titans.
� � While other schools spent countless hours studying openings, variations, middle game traps, our team took to the likes of Nimzovich, Silman and a lanky Cuban named Capablanca, the endgame masters. Just as our opponents secured their middle game position with a sense of smug conviction, we countered with our own arsenal of legendlike endgame. Rook and pawns overpowering with deadly tactics. Like Custer, they suffered attacks from all sides, a turquoise Knight flanking an ineffective Bishop.
� � We practiced endgames until it was burned in our memories. Our manifesto had been written by Capablanca and adhered to religiously "...the technique of seeking a clear cut, efficient win, instead of a display of fireworks" That technique was Tuba City Chess in a nutshell. Late night speed games, chess at lunchtime, and volumes of chess books were but only a few attributes we possesed. Not for the timid, but for the serious student learning from masters and wanting to go beyond the parameters of mediocrity.
� � The battle and subsequent victory for the state title had taken place on our own turf. Tuba Chess legends had gathered to watch the young "Skywalker" team. A yearlong epic closed with my game, but not mine alone, everyone was involved, did I mention Edwin's game againts Marcos de Niza , in which he moved with the ferocity of any of his elders, now you see, I take no credit.
� � After all was said, quotes quoted, Chess slams slammed, the year had brought many suprises. A team with no chance in the beginning had risen to top. We were crushed in the beginning, slaughtered nonetheless, and laughed at for not maintaining the winning roads of that our Tuba Chess legends had paved. In the beginning we were effective as the B.I.A roads division, but along the way we picked up our tools and improved until we were solid and moved with fluidity. Our apocalyptic drive to be the best had paid off, that day we had both our mind and body in the game, truly warriors of the mind.
