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With master at helm, BHS takes another chess title Posted 4/21/00 by John Gessner School District 191ís enduring dynasty in competitive chess ó which continued this month with a state championship for the Burnsville High School team ó has its origins in the former Soviet Union, in the Belorussian capital of Minsk. Thatís where a mechanical engineer named Eduard Zelkind quit his job in a government foundry and found work teaching Soviet kids a game the government said would steel their minds. The Jewish Zelkind and his family, weary of the governmentís subtle persecution, emigrated to Minnesota in 1980. A longtime Eagan resident, Zelkind established himself as a Minnesota master. A six-time state champion, he gave a class in the mid-1980s that was attended by Brian Ribnick, a chess nut and teacher at Metcalf Junior High in Eagan. Ribnick invited Zelkind to instruct members of his Metcalf chess club, forming a partnership that continues to this day. And about a decade ago, Zelkind was hired by Community Education as a chessmaster in residence, spending one week a year at each elementary school. He also coaches the BHS team. The partnerships forged a culture of chess that feeds upward from well-attended clubs at the elementary schools through junior high apprentice training to the highest level of school competition. ìBasically, it was a literacy program,î Zelkind said, describing his early work in the elementary schools. ìBecause now, basically every kid in our school district wants at least one week of chess.î BHS chess team member Matt Kleman, who placed fifth individually in the Minnesota State Chess Association high school tournament April 8 and 9 at Eagan High School, remembers his introduction to the Belorussian master. ìHe didnít make any sense to me at first,î said Kleman, a sophomore. ìI didnít know what he was talking about. He just started playing on a chess board and I thought, ëThis looks like fun,í and started playing with another kid and probably got beat.î Sophomore Grady Cantrell said he and sophomore Brett Larsen ó fourth and third at state, respectively, and the teamís top two boards ó transferred from Nicollet to Metcalf after a school boundary change so they could play for Ribnick. ìRibnick is not as good at chess as Zelkind,î said Cantrell, whose older brother, Robby, was also a chess standout. ìHe just gets kids interested in chess and tries to get them to play. The teaching comes with Zelkind.î Zelkindís BHS teams have won five state championships in his nine years as coach, been second three times and captured one third-place finish in national high school competition sponsored by the United States Chess Federation. Metcalf has also amassed several state titles, and won both the junior varsity and varsity divisions in national competition. Few school districts have at their disposal the services of a teacher who, in his more active playing days, held the U.S. Chess Federation ranking of senior master. ìFrom this point of view,î said Zelkind, a 58-year-old father of three and grandfather of six, ìthe district is very unique, even in the United States.î ëLike After arriving in the United States, Zelkind worked for several years as a drafstman and technologist at Eco Lab. But since being laid off in 1987 Zelkind, whose wife, Natalya, works for Jewish Family and Children's Service, has earned his keep in the game of chess. He has given classes and private instruction, held summer camps and worked with a handful of schools outside District 191. The bug he spreads is infectious. ìHe helps you go over your game so you donít make the same mistakes,î said Grady Cantrell. ìItís different every time,î Larsen said. ìYou never do the same thing. And itís always nice to beat another person.î ìEspecially people you donít like,î Kleman said, confirming an in-your-face element to this most civil of games. Despite the gameís popularity in District 191, the players said they had to fend off a few taunts of ìnerdî back in junior high. ìStereotypes, I guess,î Cantrell said. ìUnfortunately, chess has the stigma of being ënerd,í which is absolutely wrong, and that opinion is spread all over the world,î Zelkind said. When he was a junior player in the Soviet Union, the government viewed chess as a tool of intellectual training, alongside the physical sports that were intended to mold young males into what Zelkind calls ìsmart muscle men.î ìAfter thinking constantly for three hours,î he said, ìyou feel like you were chopping wood or doing some sort of hard labor. ... Sometimes, the entire muscles in your body ache.î Zelkind has a prized pupil outside of District 191 ó Armstrong High School senior Sean Nagle, who beat the Burnsville players while capturing top individual honors at the state tournament. Zelkind has also taught and coached at Zachary Lane Elementary School and Plymouth Middle School, both of which feed into the Armstrong machine. ìKids know me ó I donít take any sides,î Zelkind said. ìI do my job. In all cases, I try to teach them to the best of my ability.î With Nagle out of the way next year, BHSí sophomores expect to have a big couple of years. ìAs a team, weíll win state the next two years,î Cantrell predicted. ìAnd hopefully, when weíre in 12th grade, we can win nationals.î The team could get a start on that goal with a good performance at this yearís national high school tournament, April 28 through 30 in Charlotte, N.C.
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