Bobby Fischer? Not yet. . .

Our local area elementary schools collaborated to combine and create a Chess Club for elementary students earlier this year. Andrew immediately was "on board" with the idea, but recently Brendan joined as well.

Today our Chess Club hosted a tournament, so Andrew bravely volunteered to participate. We arrived at about 8:30 this morning to register for the big day. Then, we proceeded to wait until all the kids had arrived, and the adults could create the pairings for the first round. As I glanced around the room, I saw kids huddled in corners playing their Nintendo DS, some kids practiced their chess skills by playing on one of the nearly dozen chess boards that were set up around the room, and some kids just laughed and talked with their "chess buddies."

Finally, the first round arrived and we all traversed to the library to watch the proceedings. Kids sat at their assigned tables and waited for the official start. When the matches started, I was amazed by the atmosphere. The room, at first, seemed silent. No one talked. Then, you could hear the slight knock that each piece made as the players moved them. I heard an occasional chess clock click as someone completed their turn. I heard faint gasps or affirmations from the players that were barely audible through the silence. Moments after the round began, players began getting up who had lost their round. But, not Andrew. His match was the final match left playing: He won!

What happens next is the adults tabulate results and create new pairings for each players, then the cycle repeats. This happened for six rounds. Andrew was doing well. He won the first, lost the second, but then went on a winning streak for the next three. He lost his final match to a boy who was undefeated. (Actually, both of his losses were to boys who had not been beaten.)
The results? Andrew scored a third place trophy out of 31 participants! He was so excited and proud. On the way home, he was already asking when he could play again. He may not be Bobby Fischer yet, but he is working on it. . .