MANALAPAN — A teenage chess champion will continue to pass his knowledge of the game on to area residents.
Alex Schwartzberg of Manalapan, who is a sophomore in the Freehold Regional High School District’s Science and Engineering program at Manalapan High School, will soon start another instructional chess program through the East Brunswick Department of Recreation, Parks & Community Services.
The next set of sessions will begin at 5 p.m. Jan. 17 and run for six consecutive Fridays through Feb. 21.
The spring sessions will begin April 4 and run through May 16.
He also teaches classes for the Manalapan Parks and Recreation Department.
In an interview, Alex said he finds chess to be a fun game to play, specifically for the problem solving challenges and creative aspects that each match presents to him.
“When I am faced with a difficult situation, I want to push on. … I feel a sense of achievement by defeating a tough opponent,” he said.
The young man said he feels a sense of accomplishment when he sees the children he instructs put the lessons he has taught them to use in their own chess matches.
“Some of the children I am working with are starting to enter tournaments. … It feels good to pass knowledge on to them,” he said.
On Nov. 24, Alex competed in the New Jersey K-12 State Championship. Chess players from all over the state competed within their respective grades for the title of state champion of that grade.
Alex won his section and earned the title of New Jersey State 10th grade champion. At Manalapan High School, he plays Board 1 on the varsity chess team.
Alex’s dad, Mark Schwartzberg, taught him how to play the game when he was 6.
Schwartzberg said he and his wife noticed that the Monmouth County Library Headquarters in Manalapan had a chess club that met on Saturday, so they brought Alex to the club and met Jim Mullanaphy, who runs the club.
Mullanaphy became Alex’s first chess instructor in January 2005. By February, Alex began competing in tournaments. Over the years, he has competed in 137 official U.S. Chess Federation tournaments, winning trophies and prize money, according to Schwartzberg.
Alex’s published chess rating as of Jan. 1 was 1,925 — he started out at 599. Currently, he is in the top 1.8 percent of all chess players age 21 or under in the United States, and the top 6.2 percent of all chess players of any age.
Alex started teaching chess to children at Mathnasium in Spotswood in 2011. He expanded his instructional program to Mathnasium in Marlboro a short time later.

