Autistic boy, 8, finds passion and talent for chess

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Posted on Mon, Dec. 06, 2004

MIAMI SPRINGS

Autistic boy, 8, finds passion and talent for chess

BY HELEN BERGGREN

hberggren@...

The sub shop's small terra cotta courtyard is unusually busy.

A dozen or more youngsters are hunched over black and white chess

boards and tournament-size chess pieces.

''Yes! I've captured both your bishops!'' a player exclaims.

''I want the crystal queen next!'' another shouts.

Max Kortenbach peers at the board and then makes his

move. ''Check!'' he says gleefully, outstretched hands pumping in

the air.

It is Friday night, the Chess-Mates are in session and Max is

clearly delighted in the club that he started.

With good reason. The 8-year-old who is struggling with autism and a

speech impediment began to play chess just months ago.

This summer, while the family was going on vacation to Ottawa, Max

went into a Miami International Airport gift shop and bought a bag

of potato chips and, on a whim, a small magnetic chess set. He read

the instructions on the flight and found his first opponent, his

father, Juergen, who had last played the game 30 years ago.

Back home, Max wanted to meet more chess players. On a visit to the

Miami Springs Library, he read a flier for the Stormont Kings chess

club at the Kendall Branch Library. He got his mother, Kimberlee

Beall-Kortenbach, to drive him to Kendall, and he started to take

lessons with Stormont, who started that club.

Max's game progressed so rapidly that, in October, he placed fourth

among 60 young players in the beginner category at his first

tournament, held at the West Miami Community Center, 901 SW 62nd Ave.

Max liked the idea of a chess club for children so much that he

wanted one for Miami Springs. On a trip to the New York Philly Sub

Shop in August, he saw that the place was not busy on Friday nights

and thought the courtyard would be an ideal meeting place for a

chess club.

On his own, Max asked the owners, Phil and Marcia Arroyo, chess

lovers themselves, to use the patio for chess games on Friday

nights. They agreed, and Chess-Mates was born.

The club started by Max has about 20 members. One, like him, has

autism; a few have dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder. Members are recruited through a flier posted on the sub

shop's front door and by word of mouth.

Stella Durocher, coordinator of research and clinical

services at the University of Miami's Center for Autism and Related

Disabilities, is not surprised that Max took to chess so quickly,

despite having a form of autism.

STRATEGY AND RULES

''Chess is a game of strategies, rules, and would attract

individuals with HFA,'' Durocher said. ``But not all children with

HFA would be as proficient at chess as Max is being described as.''

Because Max does well in math, he was allowed to join the Academic

Excellence Program, a school chess club that started in October at

Miami Springs Elementary School and has 30 members. He soon started

to lobby for a chess tournament to be played at the school on a

teachers planning day, said Principal Megias.

''He thought the library would be a nicer place than the cafeteria

to have the event,'' Megias said. ``I was amazed when he asked about

the maximum attendance capacity of the library.''

The principal may be surprised. Not his parents.

Born with autism and ankyloglossia, or ''tongue tie'' -- a speech

impediment that required two operations -- Max seemed destined for

special-education classes.

DIAGNOSIS MADE

For the first and second years of his life, his mother said, experts

at the Mailman Center and the South Miami Child Development Center

acknowledged that Max was different from other children. But instead

of autism, they diagnosed him with speech language disorder delay,

fine motor delay and severe articulation disorder.

Beall-Kortenbach enrolled her son at Ryder Charter Elementary School

in Doral, where, she said, his kindergarten teacher understood him.

But that changed when he entered first grade.

''Max had gone to occupational therapy for two years and, because of

OT, he is able to write with a marker or a ballpoint pen,'' Beall-

Kortenbach said. ``But his first-grade teacher said Max could not

use those implements because the other children were not allowed.

Max cried every day he had to go to first grade.''

A few of his teachers at Ryder Charter, she said, suggested that Max

go to a special school. She didn't like the idea.

''There is not a special world out there, so how would a special

school prepare Max for the world?'' she said.

`MY SON IS DIFFERENT'

Beall-Kortenbach decided to move her son to Miami Springs

Elementary. First, though, she met with the principal.

'I told Ms. Megias, `My son is different, but I don't want you to

change him. I want him to be a better version of himself,' '' she

said.

A year ago, school district psychologist Tamara Palash made the

autism diagnosis.

''It is important to distinguish autism from other conditions, since

an accurate diagnosis and early identification can provide the basis

for building an appropriate and effective educational and treatment

program,'' the Autism Society of America says on its website. 'Some

persons with autism may appear to have `eccentric' behavior,''

according to the society.

That is something Max's parents can relate to.

''Max is a collector of information and unusual things,'' Beall-

Kortenbach said. ``He is obsessed with coins, presidents, states and

capitals.''

GOAL IN LIFE

In fact, Max has already decided what he wants to be when he grows

up: secretary of the Treasury, the official whose duties include

selecting which president is on U.S. currency.

''Max never stops loving his obsessions,'' Beall-Kortenbach

said. 'He will just put them in the `museum.' ''

The ''museum'' is the red, orange and yellow bedroom Max shares with

his younger brother Gunnar in their Miami Springs home.

A dozen earth globes hovering over a shelf of dinosaurs wait to be

spun. Seashells keep company with old geography books on the lower

shelves. And an oversize replica of a black knight, the chess piece

that, like Max, leaps over obstacles and never travels in a straight

line, silently stands guard.