When he was only 4, Atulya Shetty started playing chess.

Now 14, he has advanced in just 10 years to earn many chess honors, including three overseas trips to represent the United States including one in October to Greece.

This year, he is one of 57 students to qualify for the fall 2010 World Youth Chess Championship in Greece, where he will travel with his dad to participate in the U14 category representing the U.S. as a delegate for the United States Chess Federation. He is one of three Michigan youngsters who will participate.

“I was just playing for fun,” said Atulya of playing chess. What he remembers now about those early years was “that I couldn’t stop playing.”

He recently graduated from Clague Middle School and will be a freshman this fall at Huron High School.

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