Senior Winston Chan has recently placed 9th in the world for abacus in a competition in Japan. So how did he get here?
Chan has been practicing the abacus— definition — since he was 5 years old, and started his interest when he saw it at a neighborhood fair.
“Just seeing how the beads moved and noticing the manipulations between them, that was what fascinated me,” Chan said.
After he began his practices, he started competitively working with the abacus, going to competitions and working with other students of the abacus.
To achieve the competitive side of the abacus, Chan had to make his way to a certain level. There are ranking levels, starting with 16 and moving up to 1. Once you reach level 1, you get to advanced rankings called Dan Levels. These levels start at Dan 1 until you reach the highest level at Dan 10.
“I’m currently at this level,” Chan said, regarding Dan 10.
Once you reach high Dan levels, you can start competing with other abacists.
To make it to the competition in Japan, Chan had to finish first out of the North American students in a competition last winter, earning his ticket for Japan.
While in Japan, Chan started out with a written test before the abacus competition even started. There were 50 questions and the competitors had 3 minutes to calculate all of the problems all mentally.
“I average around 3 to 5 seconds per problem to finish them all,” Chan explained.
Although it seems impossible, at a point within the abacus career, Chan explained you begin to visualize the beads in your head, speeding up the process of calculating big math problems.
After finishing the written test without the abacus, Chan was able to move into the abacus part of the competition and finished 9th in the entire world. Whoever has the most accuracy with their problems wins the competition. Chan was competing with kids and adults from all over the world. Japan, China, the UK, Canada, and Brazil are some of the biggest countries in the competition.
Now that Chan is 9th in the world, where does he go from here?
Chan hopes to continue his passion for the abacus, moving up to higher levels, going to more competitions, but also sharing his skill with the world. For his Christian Service Project he volunteered at Avamere Senior Living and was able to teach the residents about the abacus, even improving their cognitive skills.
“I also worked at the Washington State School for the Blind, so I was able to teach blind students how to use the abacus and host events for them,” Chan said.
Chan will continue his hard work with the abacus, spreading his knowledge and giving people new opportunities with the abacus.
