Kyle Kong

How We Met

Beekham Hill International is a school of chess legends. There is a tradition where all the players who are 1000+ USCF get to sign a Hall of Fame Board. If you achieve this benchmark, you are said to be in the top 30% of all US players across the country, regardless of age. Kyle was in 5th grade and 512 USCF rating when he first entered my classroom.

He had been playing for years, but he only had 10 months left before graduating. Therefore, he only had 10 months left to break 1000 USCF and sign his name on the board.

Only 10 months to leave a legacy at his school.

A Challenge Turned Inspiration

Kyle fully realized his situation, and paid attention in class. He continuously asked questions and worked on puzzles outside of the classroom.

After the first week of class he completed 115 puzzles

After the second week of class he completed 265 puzzles

After a month of class he completed 558 puzzles

He also started going to tournaments, and helped his team gain points in the “Beat Coach Rachel” challenge - a bet I placed with my class where if they work harder in chess than me, I would have to wear a panda suit for a day. Thanks to Kyle’s work ethic, that ended up happening.

The Wave

At some point Kyle’s rating kept on fluctuating around a certain level over the course of a month. This is a normal part of every chess player’s career - we all face this plateau at some point. I like to call it “the wave”.

Around this time Kyle started asking for resources. I recommended him a specific book for his chess level and also guided him on a special way to absorb all the information. I used this same method in my own career.

One day in February I was handing out flyers for the chess team outside of Kyle’s school. It was around 8:20 am in the morning, and a lot of kids were just getting ready for the day. But in front of the school waiting for the doors to be opened, I saw Kyle, hunched over the chess book, and reading it.

Kyle Breaking 1000 USCF

Two weeks later, Kyle travelled up north to New York States Chess Championships in Saratoga. He tied for 2nd in his section and came 7th on tiebreak. Because of his fantastic performance, he gained 100 rating points and finally broke 1000 USCF. In only 6 months of training, he finally signed the hall of fame board.

Well done Kyle!