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MAHWAH Most likely you're no match for 12-year-old Gary Leschinsky. His opening is pretty strong and so are the rest of his moves. You can say he's the king of his castle.

As you may have deduced from the cheap puns, Gary is a chess player. Not just any chess player, he is self-taught and within two years of playing his first game ranksnumber 15 in the United States in his age group.

Gary Leschinsky with his chess trophies(Photo: Marsha A. Stoltz)

"My mother kept talking about chess champion Garry Kasparov," Gary said."I didn't know who hewas so I looked him up on the internet.Then Ilooked up how to play."

That's it.

His father BorisLeschinsky concedes his influence was limited to playing checkers, but he's learned enough of the game to assist Gary by moving the pieces as instructed. Gary plays blindfolded to even the playing field.

"My commitment is way smaller than his," Boris Leschinsky said."We are happy to support his passion."

Gary now divides his time between a trainer, tournaments and playing online.He plays all formats, but least likes "blitz" games where each player gets three to four minutes to plot their next move.

Bernice and Mark Leschinsky look on and father Boris gives assistance to Gary and sister Barbara.(Photo: Marsha A. Stoltz)

"There's no time to think at all," Gary said."Now I play with a two-hour time control."

The middle-schooler said it's "hard to find good tournaments," but he has managed to make friends while attending nearby events that are either open to all orgeared to his age and grade.

"Your first tournament is really important because of the chess rating system," Gary said. "Everyone starts out at 100.A bad tournament would get you 101.I got 500 my first time."

Within six months, Gary's U.S. Chess Federation rating went from 500 to 1,600. As of Jan. 7, it was 2,156, only 44 points shy of national master status.Heplaced first in the New Jersey Grade 6 Championship in November.

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Gary can't explain why he has progressed so rapidly, other than a general: "I'm good at math." Alexander Stripunsky, a trainer at International Chess Academy in Glen Rock, saidit's "an ability to learn quickly."

Gary, Stripunsky said, "has always been an exceptional learner, partially because of his great work ethic, partially because of his ability to capture the essence of the process going on, the nature of the position."

Fortunately for mere mortals, Gary can't tell a good player from a bad one in the early part of a game, but it's the end game that separates the sheep from the goats, so to speak.

Gary Leschinsky plays 10 boards simultaneously during the CDI tournament in Mexico last November.(Photo: Photo courtesy of Boris Lachinsky)

"It's hard to do the end game, king safety, pawn structure is pretty important," Gary said. "Older people know better what's good and what's bad."

When not preoccupied with chess or school, Gary enjoys ping pong, running, and promoting an invention he hadpatented while he was in the third grade.

"It's called the A-Watch, short for allergy watch," Gary said."I have a lot of allergies, and this watch is designed to detect symptoms of food allergies." He said when he attends parties or hanging out with friends and doesn't know what ingredients are in foods, the watch "has a skin sensor that detects my heart rate, sweating."

The prototype is still in development, and Gary is looking for collaborators to advance his idea. But Gary presented his watch as one of seven students who addressed theLa Ciudad de las Ideas in Mexico last November. The International Festival of Brilliant Minds brings together "talented people," according to Gary, for talk and inspiration.

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"I met President Trump's first press secretary, Sean Spicer," Gary said."John Gray, who wrote 'Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars,' Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar, who talked about how to be happy. My favorite wasan artificial intelligence talk by David Cox from IBM."

For all that rarefied air, the sixth-grader at Ramapo Ridge Middle School can still come down to earth.

"It was pretty cool," Gary said of his trip. "I got to skip school."

Gary will be playing in the Liberty Bell Open in Philadelphia this weekend.

Marsha Stoltzis a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:stoltz@northjersey.com Twitter:@marsha_stoltz

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Mahwah boy is a nationally ranked chess player, patented inventor. And he's only 12 - NorthJersey.com