Blog Number 69

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

So today the whole family went to watch my son at his Texas chess debut.  There was a tournament in Richardson that drew about 50 kids.  He has played in over 30 tournaments in Indiana and there are a few differences that we noticed right off the bat.  Firstly, there were no concessions.  Generally the chess club that hosts the tournament does so in order to raise money for their club and running concessions is a great way to raise funds.  There was a break for lunch between round 2 and 3 and you were on your own to go get some food.  Secondly, the kids were not separated by age / grade.  In Indiana, there are divisions in each tournament (usually 3rd grade and under, 6th and under, etc.).  You play only kids your own age.  In this tournament, there were no divisions and you played everyone regardless of age.  Thirdly, there was no "skittles" area.  This is an area you can go between rounds and relax or go over your last game.  This tournament was held in a recreation center and the actual competition was in the gymnasium.  Immediately outside the gym was a multipurpose room.  When we first arrived, there was an exercise class going on (complete with obscenely loud, thumping music).  Later in the day, they brought out table tennis (ping-pong) tables.

There were some serious table tennis players there.  It was like watching the Olympics.  Most of the better players were oriental but there were a few grandma looking aged women that had some serious game.  I would not want to be on the other end of their forehand smashes!  For the most part the people playing just looked annoyed that these chess people had invaded their territory for the day.

The son did pretty good.  He won 4 out of his 5 games and his only loss came to a player rated over 200 points higher than him.  He was even slightly ahead for the middle game (up an exchange - knight for rook) but was checkmated by a sneaky queen sacrifice by the other player.  His last game was also against a higher rated player (about 140 points higher).  This is the highest rated player he has ever defeated so the day ended on a good note.  He was the 14th highest rated player there and he finished in 4th place overall so we are very proud of his play today.

Just a slight word before I sign off about chess parents (plus, Dumb and Dumber is starting soon).  They are truly unique.  I don't blame them though really.  For all you sports parents out there, imagine a sport where there is no cheering whatsoever!  You can't celebrate a good opening combination by yelling, "Good Queen's Gambit!  Way to sacrifice that pawn buddy!"  You can't start a cheer, "Give me a C, an A, an S-T-L-E, what's that spell?"  And you can't start chanting, "Check-Mate, Check-Mate!"

Being a chess parent is hard.  But so is watching a 50 year old woman play ping-pong so well that you know she would wipe the floor with you.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon