Chess wizard turning heads at age 7.

Byline: TIM CHRISTIE The Register-Guard

NEVIN TAYLOR, all 3-foot-10 and 42 pounds of him, flitted between three chess matches he was playing at once during a meeting of the Fox Hollow Chess Club, moving a knight here and a rook there.

"There's so many things to do," he said to himself.

Nevin rubbed his chin as he pondered his next move, then delivered the coup de grace against his first opponent:

"Checkmate," he said.

"Good game, Nevin," said his opponent, Jin Hyun, and the boys shook hands.

Playing Nevin is hard, said Hyun, another first-grader, "because he's the best one."

Nevin Taylor just turned 7 in December. But his uncanny chess skills and aggressive tactics have his coach daring to utter the P-word about him: prodigy.

Jerry Ramey has been coaching chess in Eugene for eight years and runs chess clubs at South Eugene High, Roosevelt Middle and Fox Hollow Elementary schools. He began working with Nevin when he was 6 and is amazed at his chess smarts.

"I've had a lot of very good players," Ramey said, "and Nevin has the potential to be as good or better than anyone I've ever coached."

His development over the next year or two will determine "whether he's another Bobby Fischer," Ramey said, referring to the reclusive American grandmaster who dominated the game in the 1970s.

Nevin said he's not sure why he likes chess so much. But he's hooked. "My dad was really the one who got me into it," he said.

In fact, Nevin is just the youngest and most promising player in a strong, deep pool of young Eugene chess players. That was evident at the recent state school chess tournaments. South Eugene won the high school team championship for the sixth time in eight years, while Roosevelt won the middle school championship and Fox Hollow finished second in the elementary tournament.

Strong players, such as fourth-grader Andy Russo, sixth-grader Zion Castor, seventh-grader Mitka Vaintrob, and the eighth-grade Villareal twins, James and Jonathan, all won or placed in the tournaments. And eighth-grader Oleg Zaikov, who Ramey said may be the best middle school player in the country, didn't compete because of a conflict.

But it's young Nevin who shows the most promise of turning into an elite, world-class chess player, according to Ramey.

Nevin competed in the elementary and high school tournaments, where both his formidable skills and his young age were on display.

Competing in the B division of the high school tournament, he won two of his four matches in team competition, and that included losing what might have been his best game, according to his father, Ted Taylor, a child psychologist.

About 20 minutes into the game, he went down a rook, putting him at a huge disadvantage. But instead of retreating, he went on the attack, knocking his opponent on his heels before finally succumbing to a counterattack. By the end of the game, Nevin had used just 26 of his allotted 90 minutes; his opponent had used 77 minutes.

"When he's behind, he's still looking for an attack, rather than defending," he said.

At the elementary tournament a week later, playing first board, reserved for each team's top player, Nevin won all five of his games in the team competition, leading Fox Hollow to second place. But the competition took a toll on his young body.

"A child that young is a lot more fragile than older kids," Ramey said. "He was really, really tired" the next day. "He hadn't slept well."

As a result, he played sloppy, mistake-ridden chess in the individual competition the next day - though at one point he pulled off a checkmate even after losing his queen. He ended up tied for third in individual play.

"Chess is quite exhausting if you play a lot of it," Ramey said. "It becomes an intense mind exercise."

Nevin's father taught him how to play chess when Nevin was 5, the summer before kindergarten, and he quickly caught on.

Taylor realized that Nevin was good at the game and bought a piece of software called "Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess."

Nevin played the program so much his parents had to limit him to an hour a day. He finished off the lessons in about a year and a half and his parents bought him "Chessmaster 8000." He plowed through those lessons in a few months.

By the summer before first grade, Nevin was beating his father three games out of 10. He won a tournament at family summer camp against older players. That's when Taylor called Jerry Ramey.

Ramey is much in demand as a chess coach in Eugene. He gets lots of phone calls from parents and was leery of taking on a child as young as Nevin. But he finally agreed to meet him.

He set up some puzzles on a chess board and asked Nevin to solve them.

"To be honest, I was just totally amazed a child that young could be that sharp," he said. "He solved some puzzles that I would not have expected. He knocked my socks off with his ability."

Ramey gives Nevin weekly private lessons and coaches him at the Fox Hollow and South Eugene chess clubs. What sets Nevin apart from other children his age is his uncanny ability to concentrate, Ramey said. That helps make him an excellent tactical player - he can look ahead and plan a combination of moves.

"His ability to concentrate made it quite easy to teach him," he said. "He grasps ideas quite quickly."

His father said that while Nevin has some natural talent and brains, his skills are a result of the time he spends playing the game.

"He has spent a huge amount of time on it," he said. "Like any sport, it's how much you practice that makes a huge difference."

Nevin attributes his chess success to hard work.

"I just practice a lot," he said.

For Nevin, chess is not work, it's play. The challenge facing his coach and his father is finding a balance that keeps him stimulated and growing as a player without stifling him with so much pressure that it takes the fun out of the game.

"Yes, there is a danger in putting new pressure on him," Ramey said. But, he added, "He doesn't seem to feel pressure in the same way other kids do."

Ramey had wanted to enter Nevin in his first adult chess tournament next month at Lane Community College. But Taylor decided it wouldn't be a good idea so soon after the pressure-packed state school tournaments. He agrees with Ramey that Nevin would be likely to do well at the adult tournament, but he'd rather err on the side of caution.

"I don't want him to be overwhelmed by it," he said. "I'm not wanting him to play too much beyond his level."

He also wants Nevin to enjoy other pursuits, such as soccer and gymnastics, and just playing with other kids. "We're trying to make sure chess isn't the only thing," Taylor said. "It's up to him where he goes."

The Friday after the elementary tournament, Nevin joined other members of the chess club in the Fox Hollow library. After the rigors of tournament play, Ramey cut the children some slack. Instead of lessons, he allowed the kids to play quick, fun games.

Nevin was all over the room and in much demand. After playing three games at once, he joined in a few games of "Bug House," in which partners play two games simultaneously against another team. Captured pieces are fed to the partner, who can put them into play in his game.

The players use a chess clock to keep the pressure on, and the game is fast-paced. Nevin climbed entirely on top of the table to play one game, whistling while he played. Once again, he triumphed. "Yes ... oh ho ho ... yes," he said, pumping his arms as he takes his opponent's queen. Then, moments later, "I got 'mate! 'Mate! 'Mate! 'Mate!"

Then he took a closer look at the board.

"Never mind."

CAPTION(S):

Seven-year-old Nevin Taylor, a first-grader at Fox Hollow, plans his next move as he participates in a chess tournament at Lane Community College recently. INSIDE School news, book picks and a calendar of events / 4B