10-year-old Arab is a chess champion in Israel, but no one's pawn
When Huda Qasem was 7, her father, Haitham, took her to the Israeli chess championships for girls under 8 to see how she would do. It was the first time that Huda, from an obscure chess club in Tira, an Arab city near Kfar Sava, had ever played in a real chess tournament. There were 20 other girls in the competition, all of them Jewish. Huda barely knew Hebrew, as she had just entered the second grade, when Arab children in the country usually begin to learn the language. Despite that, she emerged as the Israeli champion for girls in her age category – the first time an Arab had won a chess championship title of any kind in the country.
“We were not surprised,” says Huda’s mother, Dareen, who is a nurse in a well-baby clinic. “Huda is a quick study in every field, including mathematics and music. She solved geometric series in kindergarten.”
“I felt good,” says Huda, who is now 10, recalling that first tournament. “I thought I would win. I felt that I could take all the rounds, and that’s how it went. It was the first time I ever saw a chess clock. During the games I felt I was going up a level. Afterward, everyone in class got to know I won the cup, so the principal asked me to bring it to school. Everyone in the class was happy and proud.”
One of the shelves in Huda’s cute pink room is crowded with trophies; along with 14 for chess, there are two for her achievements in math. The family has become somewhat blasé about the medals she has also won; they are stored in a drawer.
A year after that first competition, Huda took part in the championship for girls aged 8 to 10, and finished first again. Encouraged by her success, she decided to enter a tournament for girls up to the age of 12 – she was 9 at the time – and came in second. This year, in the championships for children of 8 to 10, she decided to play against the boys in the general competition and reached the finals. Afterward, exhausted, she defended her girls’ title. Her parents were worried that her weariness would affect her game, but she won again, with a perfect score: five victories without a draw or a loss. She has now been Israeli chess champion for girls her age for the past three years. At this rate, Huda Qasem will be the hot name in Israeli women’s chess when she grows up.
Source: www.haaretz.com