An 18-year-old young man from the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighborhood in Montreal was crowned the world youth chess champion for this year - becoming the first Quebecer and only the second Canadian to hold the title.

Sean Rodrigue-Lemieux won the cup after defeating players from 54 countries at the World Under-18 Chess Championship last week in Romania.

He scored 9 points out of 11 - 7 wins and four draws. Among those he defeated was Kazibek Nogurbek from Kazakhstan, who ranked second. He drew with German Marius Fromm who ranked third.

"I did not expect this result," Rodrigue-Lemieux said about his historic win. "The start of the tournament was not great but suddenly, the victories kept coming and the end was wonderful."

 The teenager is just two wins away from becoming a Grandmaster - the highest honor in the game.

"He can become the youngest Quebecer in history to earn the Grandmaster title," said Richard Perreault, general manager of the Quebec Chess Federation (QCF).

About 1200 players are international grandmasters, according to QCF, including Quebecers Kevin Spraggett, Pascal Charbonneau, and Thomas Russell Rosemont, who earned the title at age 22.

"I never expected this amazing result," the mother said
Rodrigue-Lemieux did not grow up in a chess-obsessed family, but he started learning at age six in an after-school program.

He said, "I just decided to sign up to see what chess was and I've loved it ever since."

But Rodrigue-Lemieux’s mother said this was never the intention. Isabelle Rodrigue added that her son was very active and she hoped the game would simply help him focus. She didn’t really care whether he excelled at the game or not.

She said, "That was not my expectation." "It was all about him staying calm and sitting still and developing that focus a little bit... I never expected such impressive success."

Isabelle Rodrigue says she put her son in the after-school chess program to help him focus. She never expected he would end up a champion of the game.

Local chess scene participants say they hope Rodrigue-Lemieux's win will give the game a strong boost.

Larry Bifand from the Chess and Mathematics Association said they will be by his side as he tries to rise to Grandmaster rank.

He said, "Now that Sean has won the world championship, we are already planning to support him for the rest of the journey."

Rodrigue-Lemieux said he wants to continue his studies as a social studies student majoring in law at Cégep de Maisonneuve but will not give up his chess hobby.

He said, "I want to go to university, but chess is also part of my future."

  Edited by: Yousra Bamtoff