P.E.I. chess champion takes on 19 players at once

It’s a show of incredible skill, taking on 19 players at once, but Jorge Moreno isn’t worried at all. The Prince Edward Island chess champion moved from Peru to Canada to study at Holland College last year. He’s taken part in eight tournaments since then and hasn’t lost a ranked game since December.

It’s a show of incredible skill, taking on 19 players at once, but Jorge Moreno isn’t worried at all.

The Prince Edward Island chess champion moved from Peru to Canada to study at Holland College last year. He’s taken part in eight tournaments since then and hasn’t lost a ranked game since December.

The challenge Saturday was a fundraiser for the Charlottetown Chess Club, which raised money to help six of its players who will be representing P.E.I., alongside six more scholastic players from other clubs at the Canadian Chess Challenge in Montreal this month.

Moreno said there’s no trick to it, but there is a strategy.

“To avoid any kind of surprise during the openings, and to be willing to play long games, really long games. I mean you have to be mentally prepared,” said Moreno. “Also, you have to be really focused but you gain that with years of experience.”

He says he developed the skills to take on this many players without realizing it by studying chess and taking it seriously.

Moreno started late for a chess player, only beginning serious competition in university.