Keeping boys in check

BY JIMMY ELLINGHAM

He describes himself as a "short fat pipi" rather than a tall poppy, but whatever his build, Martin Sims is certainly passionate about chess.

He has run Palmerston North Boys' High School's chess club for 14 years, and he that says every year, it keeps growing.

"It's just getting so popular, it's getting to the crazy stage."

During lunchtimes, up to 55 schoolboys cram into his classroom to hone their chess skills.

Mr Sims, a history teacher, said he had no idea what made it so popular, but thought tournaments run by Boys' High at primary and intermediate schools could have heightened interest.

Boys' High's chess talent has been making its mark nationally under Mr Sims' guidance – with the school's top teams last year finishing second and third at nationals.

The school also cleaned up at the Wellington championships, finishing first, second and third.

All this resulted in Boys' High's chess team being nominated for the team award at last year's Manawatu secondary school sports awards.

This was after a similar nomination a couple of years previously had been withdrawn because of the debate over whether chess was a sport.

"We don't play it as a game, we play it as a sport."

Mr Sims' own chess ability lagged far behind his enthusiasm these days, he said.

"Sadly, I used to be above average."

Mr Sims had previously taught and run chess clubs at schools in Tararua and Tokoroa, but said the quality of students at Boys' High was greater than anywhere else he had seen.

Boy's High's chess club also had a reputation for being top organisers – drawing kudos for the way it ran the national championships last year, which included setting up a camera in the school's hall and projecting matches on to a big screen.

Tournaments hosted by Boys' High are usually run by the pupils.

"I just swan around like a conductor without an orchestra," Mr Sims said.

Chess club members were not all stereotype nerds, although there were no "first XV boofheads" spending their lunchtimes playing something a little less physical.

"At this school if you're good at anything, you're respected no matter what ... I'm still waiting for [when] the first first-XV guy joins the chess club."

But the face of the club had changed over the years, with an "influx of Asians – they're just so damn good."

Outside of school, Mr Sims spends a couple of hours a day playing chess – mostly on serious websites, where you have to pay to belong. "Don't tell my wife ... I'm trying to cut down."

At one stage, he was playing up to 100 games at any one time, but he stopped that because it was damaging his teaching.

Now he settles for having about 10 games on the go. The advent of the internet has certainly made chess a lot faster – games used to be played by airmail.

Mr Sims said he often had to wait three months for a letter with a game's next move.

These correspondence games used to take at least three years to complete.

Mr Sims represented New Zealand in correspondence chess from the mid 1970s until the mid 1990s.

* If you know of any Tall Poppies, let us know.

Include contact details and a little bit about what the person does.

You can email editor@msl.co.nz with Tall Poppies in the subject line, write to PO Box 3, Palmerston North, or leave a message on our Facebook page or at Twitter.com/ManawatuNZ.

- © Fairfax NZ News