PULASKI -- When Pulaski County High School captured its last Virginia Scholastic State Chess Championship as a team in 1998, it was due in large part to the Chan brothers.

King Chan, a senior at the time, placed third, and brother Ming Chan, a freshman, tied for first. As it turned out, that was also the peak of the brothers' careers in chess competition.

"When my children were age six and nine, there was a group of students really keen on studying and learning the game," said their father, Dr. Yung Chan. "And over the years we had several people who were masters come and teach them."

When the boys were elementary-school age, Dr. Young hired a chess grandmaster to spend weekends to instruct the brothers at home. They would often practice for three-hour stints before taking a break.

"It was pretty grueling, him teaching us everything," said King. "We would be there trying to absorb it all in."

Roanoke chess master Rich Jackson also coached the brothers. Jackson saw much potential in the younger brother, Ming. In a 1990 Roanoke Times interview, he said: "I'll be disappointed if he's not a national champion."

Though Ming never won a national championship -- he was once ranked third -- he mostly remembers the great deal of traveling involved with the chess club.

"I remember when we went to New York City," said Ming, who was once nicknamed "Ming the Merciless."

"When we went to the tournament, there were thousands of games going in this really big room the size of a football field. All of these tables with kids playing chess."

Both of the Chan brothers are now college graduates who are working at Crazy Mae's restaurant in Blacksburg. Neither has played the game much since their school days in Pulaski.

"I don't play that much, I decided to focus on my studies," Ming said. "Only a year ago my cousin called about a co-worker that was good at chess. I played against him, and I won. He made a couple of mistakes."

Presumably, those errors were exploited mercilessly.