Big chess tournament!
Saturday was one of those divide-and-conquer days of having two boys born almost 7 years apart. Vickie and Dan went to a jazz band event in Urbandale while I took Bobby to play in the Iowa Chess Association Elementary Team Championship.
It was a "team" event, so Bobby represented Fairmeadows. It was a valiant team, composed entirely of Bobby and Danielle:
...but they were overmatched, I have to say. I believe there were four teams with at least a dozen players, including at least two from Ames and one from Iowa City. I think the professors kids take their chess seriously. But even they weren't enough to beat the mighty St. Francis ROOKies. They were very serious. Here is one of their between-rounds team meetings:
Other teams had less formal meetings. Here the Academy team of Will and Otto plot strategy with theircoach Mom and trainer brother:
Some players used the breaks between chess games to... play chess.
Bobby spent the time playing with Derek, from Western Hills (below), or Henry, Otto and Will.
They played in the lunchroom of the old Rex Mathes school. It was replaced with a newer school last year, and they tore down the old classrooms. The gym, auditorium, lunchroom and offices were left as a community center. Here the boards await the first of five rounds of tournament play:
I hadn't been to an "official" US Chess Federation tournament since I was a kid. During the Bobby Fischer craze, my Mom (hi, Mom!) took me and one or two other kids (I can't remember who, sadly) to Chicago to play in a tournament. It was held at the old LaSalle Hotel downtown, and we got to stay in the hotel. It's strange that I can't remember who the other kids who came to the hotel with us were, but I can remember that I went 3-3 in six matches, and that I lost the last one. That was one of the most fun things I remember doing in grade school, and it was very nice of my parents to let me do that. Going to the big city was a memorable adventure.
I wonder if we were as serious as these kids.
Here Danielle ponders her board (Bobby is in the next row)...
...while Bobby records a move in his first round game.
I hadn't thought of chess as an "action" sport suitable for videotaping, but not every game plays out like Derek's titanic marathon battle here (Derek won):
There were many awards afterwards, including medals for all players who played in their first rated tournament:
Bobby and Otto pose with their medals:
Bobby won one game out of his five matches, but he had fun, is undaunted and wants to try again!
It was a "team" event, so Bobby represented Fairmeadows. It was a valiant team, composed entirely of Bobby and Danielle:
...but they were overmatched, I have to say. I believe there were four teams with at least a dozen players, including at least two from Ames and one from Iowa City. I think the professors kids take their chess seriously. But even they weren't enough to beat the mighty St. Francis ROOKies. They were very serious. Here is one of their between-rounds team meetings:
Other teams had less formal meetings. Here the Academy team of Will and Otto plot strategy with their
Some players used the breaks between chess games to... play chess.
Bobby spent the time playing with Derek, from Western Hills (below), or Henry, Otto and Will.
They played in the lunchroom of the old Rex Mathes school. It was replaced with a newer school last year, and they tore down the old classrooms. The gym, auditorium, lunchroom and offices were left as a community center. Here the boards await the first of five rounds of tournament play:
I hadn't been to an "official" US Chess Federation tournament since I was a kid. During the Bobby Fischer craze, my Mom (hi, Mom!) took me and one or two other kids (I can't remember who, sadly) to Chicago to play in a tournament. It was held at the old LaSalle Hotel downtown, and we got to stay in the hotel. It's strange that I can't remember who the other kids who came to the hotel with us were, but I can remember that I went 3-3 in six matches, and that I lost the last one. That was one of the most fun things I remember doing in grade school, and it was very nice of my parents to let me do that. Going to the big city was a memorable adventure.
I wonder if we were as serious as these kids.
Here Danielle ponders her board (Bobby is in the next row)...
...while Bobby records a move in his first round game.
I hadn't thought of chess as an "action" sport suitable for videotaping, but not every game plays out like Derek's titanic marathon battle here (Derek won):
There were many awards afterwards, including medals for all players who played in their first rated tournament:
Bobby and Otto pose with their medals:
Bobby won one game out of his five matches, but he had fun, is undaunted and wants to try again!
posted by Joe at 5:00 AM
1 Comments:
Congratulations Bobby!
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