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Check this out mate!
 By
Trevor O’Sullivan
A five-year-old prodigy from Ireland is on the brink of immortality in the
chess world.
Shane Melaugh from Killea on the Derry-Donegal border became the youngest
person to represent Ireland on the under-12s team at the Goraney Cup championship
in Dublin this week.
The youngster represented Ireland against other competitors from England,
Scotland and Wales.
And according to his tutors the prodigiously talented youngster could
be Ireland’s first ever chess grandmaster.
Shane’s mother Linda Me-laugh is immensely proud of her son’s
achievements but even she struggles to comprehend just how gifted he is.
She said: “My father would play chess and when Shane was a baby
he would pick up the chess pieces and play with them. And then when Shane
was around three my dad taught him how to set the board up and he learned
how to play.
“Suddenly six months later he would actually give you a game. It
was amazing because I remember the first time I played him I thought he
wouldn’t have a clue and suddenly I thought: ‘Jesus he knows
how to play’.
“The school had a chess club and we got him into that and then he
has just progressed exponentially from there.”
But to give Shane the prospect of becoming the Irish Gary Kasparov Linda
has been told sponsorship is essential.
She said: “People have said to me that my son has a rare talent
and he is so talented we should advance his career as far as we can. Ireland
has never had a grandmaster and in places like Russia they pick out their
next chess prodigies from the age Shane is at now.
“The man in Shane’s chess club Alan Turnball has said to me
that he has been teaching chess for over 30 years and he has never seen
anyone with the God-given talent Shane has.”
Shane has had a busy year so far, with three major championships under
his belt to date.
He confounded judges and spectators alike at the Jadoude en Passant competition
in Oakgrove Primary School in May by not losing a single match.
And at the Ulster Chess Un-ion contest in Belfast, just two defeats out
of 13 secured second place for Shane’s school team at national level.
▪ If you would like to sponsor Shane contact his mother Linda Melaugh
on 00353 7491 40946. |
