Chess enthusiasts still searching for Bobby Fischer may want to swing by 511 Willow Ave., where 20 to 25 kids meet three days a week to play chess and to learn from Peter Croce, 44, a bearded, former semi-pro baseball player who runs the Hoboken Chess Club.
Croce, who runs the program as a volunteer, is not a babysitter; he’s a coach who drills his team on fundamentals and opening gambits. As the kids, who tend to be somewhere between eight and 13 years old, squared off against each other Tuesday, Croce circled the tables where they played, offering encouragement and occasionally asking them to complete his favorite chess aphorisms.
“What do we say about chess?” he asked 8-year-old Curt Beck.
“It’s the most complex simple game in the world,” responded Beck, barely looking up from a lightning-quick chess blitz he was engaged in with 11-year-old William Auston.
Everywhere, there was evidence that the kids are not only enjoying themselves, but learning too.
“The beginning of the game is very important,” repeated 8-year-old Anthony Marsh to himself as he made the first couple of moves in a game with Joseph Pliszka, also 8. The phrase echoes basic chess strategy he learned from Croce. “I know that,” continued Marsh as he scanned the board. “I know that. The question is, what am I going to do about it?”
A quiet intensity pervaded the room as the kids played. As their games became more heated they frequently pushed their chairs back behind them and played standing up. This seemed to give them a better view of the board and made it easier for them to slap the clock that times each player’s move.
In between games, the kids head straight for the small library of chess books that Croce has compiled for their use. There they pull encyclopedic tomes with names like Gambit Openings for Black and Tricky Chess Tactics off the shelves.
Whiz kids
“My favorite opening is the Queen’s Gambit Declined,” said Auston in a reference to a series of opening maneuvers that Gary Kasparov made famous in a 1984 world chess championship. In response to a question from a reporter, Auston then spat out the sequence of moves that makes up the gambit in rapid-fire succession that sounded like a jumble of D-2’s to D-4’s to the untrained ear.
In addition to the books at the club, Auston said that he had spent a lot of time studying chess on his computer at home.
All this hard work appears to be paying off.
The club has dominated the tournaments it has played against other children in the area this year, taking home trophies and prize money.
At a tournament that was held in Jersey City recently that attracted 100 players from the region, Beck won the title for his age group, as did ninth grader Veechimo Morin. Of the eight players the club entered into the tournament, six made it to the finals. The only age bracket they did not win was fourth through seventh grades. “It’s like the 1927 Yankees around here,” said Croce Tuesday, noting that in the other two tournaments the kids played this year, they had also won two of the tournament’s three age brackets. “After the last one, I’m saying to myself that I must be doing something right here. The kids were excited, but you should see the parents. They were crying.”
Much of the credit for the success of the team and the program lies with Croce, who volunteers more than 20 hours a week running the club. Though he has an easy-going manner with the kids that makes one think he has been working with them all his life, he actually has no children of his own and never coached or taught before he began the club two years ago.
In fact, it seems likely that Croce would not have begun coaching chess if it had not been for the tragic shooting death of his brother-in-law John Sacci, a Hoboken High School teacher, two years ago. Sacci’s death – a shooting in front of the school – helped Croce re-evaluate what he wanted to do with his life.
He decided not to pursue new clients for the cleaning business he owns and operates, choosing instead to try to build a chess club in the city.
“The passion [for this] comes from John Sacci,” said Croce. “He was my best friend. And he was about being right. I feel proud of this. Proud of what we have done. I can’t even walk through the park without 100 people talking to me about this.”
Passion seems to be the right word. In addition to volunteering his time, Croce also takes the kids on chess-related field trips on the weekends. Recently they went to Washington Square Park in Manhattan – a place known for its weathered, streetwise chess masters. Not surprisingly, Croce’s pint sized chess proteges were able to beat many of them, and Croce has the photos to prove it.
In addition to the troop of accomplished kid chess players he has assembled, Croce also teaches a beginner class for kids and has launched a Thursday night chess club for adults.
The only time he does not appear upbeat is when he talks about the finances of the club. Currently they are playing in space donated by Hoboken United, a local political group. Earlier this year they played at the Anthony Russo Civic Association, but renovations forced them to move.
Though Croce technically charges a few dollars an hour to parents for his services, he seems to be sheepish about collecting the money. To keep the program expanding, he hopes to find some sponsors among local businesses. “I’m not going to turn kids away,” he said.
Back at the tables, the kids were busy playing Bughouse, a chess variation that teaches teamwork and strategy. When the subject of baseball came up, many of the kids express an appreciation for that game too.
Beck seemed to sum up the feelings of the group when he said, “I like baseball, but I like chess a little more. Baseball is kind of slow.”