Minneapolis Public Schools Hold Annual District Chess Tournament

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- If you can't wait for March Madness, then you should've been at North High on Saturday, where the Minneapolis Public Schools held their annual District Chess Tournament – a huge draw for students.

"Kind of a nerdy game," said Alex Adams, who organizes the tournament every year. "But it's cool to be nerdy. It's fun to be nerdy."

If playing chess makes you nerdy, behold biggest collection of nerds you'll see in some time – a hundred kids, all from Minneapolis, in a bracket-style tournament.

"Seven rounds of play, very serious, all the normal rules of chess," Adams said. "It's a beginner's tournament."

And by beginner, he means...

"They'd annihilate you," Adams said with a laugh. "And they're beginning chess players. They're all in clubs already."

Some as young as kindergarten.

"Not only do they know how to play," Adams said, "they're getting good."

Because it's the kind of game that grabs you and doesn't let go.

"It just does something with my brain," said 12-year-old Tiger Worku. "It's like I go into another world. I just love the game, and everything about it."

That's typical, Adams said.

"They get kind of the bug," he said. "And once they get the bug and they feel like hey, I want to get better at this, then they come here."

Adams has been running this tournament for 18-20 years, he said. And he's seen some pretty good chess players come through Minneapolis – through this tournament.

"The ones who stand out, just like anything in life, are the ones who practice and really just try to get better," he said.

In fact, four national champions have come out of this tournament.

And Adams wants all these kids to know they can too.

"If you practice," he said, "you'll get better."