There were three junior events held concurrently at North Shore Chess Center last weekend. Most of the state top junior players competed there; it was quite a strong field. Abe continued his bad performance this month. In fact, Abe did not play that quickly in several of his games, while he lost them at the [...]
Abe played in a G-45 chess tournament last Sunday afternoon. Back about four months ago, he played the same G-45 tournament when the tournament was debuted as a monthly event. At that time, only four players showed up. So they played in a round robin format, every one played each of the rest, which resulted [...]
In case you do not know Ms. Ruan, she is the runner up in the 2010 Women’s World Chess Championship, and she is also a full time student pursuing her PHD degree in accounting at Carnegie Mellon University. What an opportunity it’s to join the lecture by a world elite chess player who is, at [...]
In the last weekend’s state K-8 championship tournament, some one had a good tournament, some one had a bad tournament, Abe, however, had a very bad tournament. What could you complain about after you remembered the name of the town — Normal! The tournament was held in a university student center. At first, it seemed [...]
It’s the first time that Abe played in a team tournament. It looked that it’s a lot of fun. What a strong and diversified field! Many teams were from out of the state, even many local players were not familiar to me: some from high school, with a lot of energy and determination, and greatly [...]
For those who participated in the 1st North America Amateur Open last weekend at North Shore Chess Center, you probably agree with me at the title. I took some pictures last Friday night: It’s a pity if you missed it. By the way, there’s more snow falling the next day.
Abe went to a chess tournament last Sunday afternoon. The tournament was great for him as he played with several strong opponents. Although the tournament last until evening, it’s no problem for us since we were no far away from home. On the way back home, I believe, I heard an interesting story from the [...]
A year earlier, I made a New Year’s Resolution, but I did not achieve it. Upon looking back, I found that my resolution was so naive and silly. This year, instead of making a New Year’s Resolution of Abe’s chess improvement of x rating points increase, I found a better alternative — making no Resolution [...]
From last Tuesday to last Thursday, Abe played at the 2010 Pan American Open chess tournament. Since the playing site was only a little more than an hour’s drive away, I decided to drive each day instead of staying at an hotel there. The driving was not bad at all— on both ways each day, [...]
We just came back from a long (supposed to be) vacation. In fact, the vacation felt so short, I would say it last no longer than a chess game. Abe, I felt, was curious to everything on the trip, the farmers’ market was definitely different there: The land was poor, so were the people, but [...]
Another weekend, another chess tournament. Another IL class (here is 2009 IL class) and another year. Same cold snowy day outside, same hot tension inside. Hope you enjoy everything, whether it is the snow, or it is the tension, whether you are young or you are old. Talking about something without tension, Abe’s little bother [...]
The 9-round 3-day tournament was held over the Thanksgiving weekend. The venue is clean and well lighted, all equipments are supplied—even the food and drink. So the plays just need to show up and play chess. A big feast of chess over Turkey Day weekend, how nice! Abe was playing in the tournament, so were [...]
Abe did fine in last weekend’s chess tournament: 2010 Illinois All Grade Championship, he won four games against four lower rated players, lost one game to a higher rated player. In the game he lost, a delicate endgame was reached and both players played well and determined, as some observers told me. The game was [...]
One chess parent told me he thought one of main benefits of having kids playing chess was the constant challenge to kids. The kids learn to deal with setbacks since they are in up and down all the time. I remember I heard more than once Abe told himself “I’d better win this one”, but [...]
We had a block party in our neighborhood last Saturday. For several days last week, Abe had mentioned that he liked to go to the party since he wanted to play with the kids of our neighbors. In addition, as usual, he has his soccer games on Sundays. In the past weekends, we, reluctantly, skipped [...]
In a recent tournament, one chess parent told me about his chess-playing son: “He played so little in the summer.” The boy is very talented and performed splendid from time to time. Since his parenting are very busy, he has not played much in tournaments recently. “Win or lose, I don’t care. Just keep playing.” [...]
Abe said sorry after I expressed deep frustration at the Illinois Open. He said he would slow down in the next tournament. The next tournament would be about a week away. It’s a strong round robin event. I would like to see if he can keep his promise. I was asked by the organizer the [...]
I was very frustrated with Abe’s recent performance in chess tournaments. He likes to blitz in his games regardless of the time control. I keep reminding him to slow down. He might realize his problem as shown in this post, but still, he will return to his bad habit very often. He did so poor [...]
From the handouts of several Abe’s recent summer chess camps, I saw more than once: “It is absolutely necessary to analyze of your game”. I guess there are two ways to analyze the game— do it yourself or with other people. When you do it yourself, some assistance, mostly computer software, is needed to point [...]
Abe’s played in a chess tournament last Saturday, won the second place. Since the entry fee’s only five dollars, we didn’t expect any prizes. However, in the end, we were told that the park district had prepared some gifts for the winners. Several of the top performers, including Abe, got surprise prizes. How nice! Here [...]
