Iowa
This Ames 11-year-old is one of the highest rated chess players in Iowa. Here’s why.
Young superstars take on instructors at Chessmates summer camps
Chessmates, a local chess-instruction company, hosted camps over the summer where young competitors improved their skills and battled their teachers.
Lucas Boland, Fort Collins Coloradoan
Irene Fei isn’t like most her age.
While most consider 11-year-olds as rambunctious pre-teens who struggle to sit still, Irene is just the opposite. Every day after school, the sixth-grader from Ames spends hours at her family’s kitchen table meticulously theorizing the game that has made her an international champion: chess.
In October, Irene traveled to Asunción, Paraguay, and brought home gold in the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Pan-American School Chess Championship in the under-13 girls section. This was her third overall FIDE championship after she won tournaments in Chicago and Panama in 2021 and 2022.
The victory also earned her the distinction of becoming the youngest woman FIDE Master in the Americas. Irene is currently the No. 1 rated women’s chess player and the 15th overall chess player in Iowa, according to the United States Chess Federation. She is the only woman to crack the top 100 in the state, with the next closest woman ranking 104th overall.
Irene’s father, Zhe Fei, said it’s rare for her to play against kids her age and that many of her competitors have been playing chess longer than Irene has been alive. Whether it’s beating kids her age or those more than twice as old as her, Irene said it all feels the same.
“Winning is winning, and it always feels good to win,” she said.
‘It’s like art to me.’ How an 11-year-old chess master got her start in Iowa
Irene first started playing chess in kindergarten after joining Glibert’s after-school chess club.
“After a couple of days attending [the club], the chess coach really emphasized Irene’s abilities, and we started taking it seriously since then and got her a coach,” Zhe Fei said.
Besides her chess skills, Zhe Fei said Irene’s strengths are her ability to stay patient during her chess matches — which he said can run between three and four hours long — and her never abandoning the game plan even when facing adversity.
Irene said she was drawn to chess because it satisfied her competitive personality, and the game requiring you to strategize to win.
“It’s beautiful sometimes, like when you’re in difficult positions, and you must find your way out of them to win,” she said. “It’s like art to me.”
‘I’m learning from her.’ Father picks up chess as 11-year-old player from Iowa racks up championship wins
Besides Panama and Paraguay, Zhe Fei, Irene, and her mother, Yan Jiao, have traveled to places such as Peru for her to play chess. In the U.S., she has competed in tournaments in Florida, California, Pennsylvania and tournaments across the Midwest. Irene said her favorite place she has visited so far due to chess was Lima, Peru.
“The food there was actually very good, and the fruit was very sweet,” she said. “There were also cultural toys and magnets that I got to bring home that I liked.”
Since Irene began playing chess, Zhe Fei said he has started playing it himself. While he considers himself an average chess player, he said he is no match for Irene.
“She is a much stronger player than myself,” he said. “I serve as one of her training partners and will offer suggestions occasionally, but most of the time, I’m learning from her.”
When she’s not playing chess, Irene said she enjoys swimming and working on math homework. She also enjoys teaching chess to her little brother, Ryan.
“He’s only in kindergarten, so he has a long way to go to be competitive with Irene,” Zhe Fei joked.
What’s next for 11-year-old chess master from Ames, Iowa?
Irene said she would continue to travel and compete in chess tournaments until she reaches Gilbert High School when she will slow down and focus on her athletics.
“We know traveling and competing in these tournaments can be a rollercoaster for her and that it comes at a big sacrifice,” Zhe Fei said.
“We, as her parents, are very proud of her, and as long as she continues to enjoy it, we’ll keep supporting her.”
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
Five people were shot and injured at an Iowa City pedestrian mall near the University of Iowa campus overnight, police said Sunday. Students from the university were among the injured, according to school officials.
The Iowa City Police Department responded to a report of a large fight in the 100 Block of East College Street at 1:46 a.m. early Sunday, the department said in a news release. Arriving officers heard gunfire.
Multiple victims were hospitalized, police said. Police confirmed to CBS News that one person was in critical condition, while the other four victims are stable.
University of Iowa President Barb Wilson said in a statement that three students were among those shot. None of the victims has been publicly identified.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing. Police said they are seeking information about five “persons of interest associated with this shooting.” The university also shared the request for information.
The pedestrian mall was closed for several hours and reopened Sunday afternoon.
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
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