Katy ISD 5-year-old boy competes at national chess tournament in Florida
A 5-year-old Katy boy is showing his chess skills at a national tournament in Florida.
Ryan Mecham, a kindergartner at Nottingham Country Elementary School, won the state championship for his age group.
"It's fun and I'm such a good player," Ryan said.
Ryan started playing chess at the local library, beating all the kids there. He then went to his dad's job, where he beat his co-workers. His parents say they're proud of their young son.
"I thought this would be another phase that just kind of faded in a couple weeks and he ended up sticking with it and was really good at it," says Ryan's mom, Mary Mecham.
She says a lot of people are amazed at how well her son can play!
"Usually it's that they're surprised when I say, 'Oh yes, he plays chess.' They assume that he knows kind of how the pieces move, not that he actually knows how to strategize. He can think multiple moves in advance, and he's 5 years old. It just kind of blows their mind, it still blows my mind," Mary said.
She's hopeful he'll continue to play for years to come.
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