School Daze

A somewhat depressing story about a 7-year-old kid in England whose parents have pulled him out of school so he'll have more time to work on chess. The kid has already won several adult tournaments (!!) and so must be considered quite a talent, but really, out of school at seven to work on chess, or anything?

His 6/6 performance at the Central London Rapidplay in May was mentioned at the BCF website: "But the show stealer was 7-year-old Peter Williams, who swept all six games in the U120 Minor. Organiser John Weightman used epithets like 'outclassed' and 'slaughtered' to describe the Alton, Hampshire boy's treatment of his opponents, four of whom were graded over 100. His best win was against runner-up Adrian Riley (who won his other five games), and he won even in the final round when a draw would have netted £100.

Peter today appears on the Junior Prix leaderboard in 19th place, and he is currently third in the U11 Prix behind Subin Sen and Callum Kilpatrick. He already won the bottom section at Coulsdon Easter, but that was at U90 level.
At seven years two months, Williams is probably England's third youngest winner of an adult tournament, after Murugan Thiruchelvam and Jack Rudd who both won adult events aged six. He belongs to Richmond Junior Chess Club and is coached by Gavin Wall."

Duly terrifying no doubt. But even such precocity does not guarantee you are the next Polgar or Karjakin. Thiruchelvam is now 14 and is rated 2259 at an age when he would need to be a GM to impress a jaded chess world.