A relative newcomer to the game of chess, Alex Fitzpatrick, took his love for the game all the way to the provincial competition for students on Saturday and came away with fourth place.
The Grade 4 student at Haig School qualified for the provincials, along with Elisa Fawcett, also of Grade 4, after taking part in a regional tournament in Regina. Elisa did not place at the provincial tournament.
Alex's mother, Marilyn, said he just started playing the game last summer, and entered the regional tournament just to have fun.
At the provincials, held at Luther College, the contestants in each grade level were to play five games each. Alex lost his first two matches, but then after lunch he won one and for his fifth game faced a player who was undefeated.
He ended up defeating this player and wound up in a three-way tie for second. After playing two more matches, he finished in fourth place for the Grade 4 category.
"He's never competed in anything like this before. That game (against the undefeated player) made his day. He was pretty tickled about that," said Marilyn.
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