On one hand, I think I should give the whole cash prize to Abe since he earned it from chess tournaments. He earned the money and he should be able to decide how to spend it. If your kids play for chess, from time to time, on some lucky days, the kids may earn some cash prizes. The cash prizes make the kids excited. He or she might show off to the friends: something he or she truly “earned”. It is one of exciting moments in long hours’ chess playing.

On the other hand, from my experience, I think Abe might not spend it wisely if he spend all or most of the amount on his will. So I took some time to figure out how to “spend” the money. When Abe found out the envelope for the cash prize letter, he asked me “Where is the check? I want to have a look.”

I gave him the check and told him how to spend it. He said OK and run to show the check to Mommy and his little brother.

The next day, I and Abe went to a brokerage firm to open an investment account. We deposit most of his prize. I gave the rest to him. I told him, on future such occasions, I will give him one third of the cash prize he earned right away, and deposit and invest the rest. He will own the account and the money in it once he becomes an adult.

I know a little about investment as I know a little about chess, in fact I wrote some posts on them. I know it is very important to start early in the investment. I hope Abe can start early and learn a little on investment by opening his investment account. In addition, the whole thing might be one form of training on delayed gratification. It would be best usage for Abe’s cash prize earned from chess tournaments. Wouldn’t it?

I found an old article about the teenager Gata and his father and a recent article about  his gracious moment at 2010 US Championship. Maybe you want to take a look at both articles.

Go Gata!

Many top junior players in the state compete at the chess center

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 end anyway. As I thought the patience was very important in chess games, for a while, I’d been telling him that I would be satisfied “if he slows down no matter he wins or loses his game”. So, I tried to find some positive sides of his games and could not criticize his loss much.  However, I did notice that although he slowed down, he spent more time looking around at other games including setting his eyes long and often on his neighboring board. When I told him that, in several instances I watched, he had a better position or material advantage and later careless mistakes cost the games again and again, he seemed agreed. He said he was so easily being distracted.

“He must have been lack of concentration,” I guessed. “Maybe he was tired, he usually spent all of his energy in playing in parties or in playing video games.”

Next weekend, he will test his patience and concentration again playing in another tournament. “He must not get too tired before that,” I thought. “But it’s Spring Break next week!”

What an opportunity it’s to join the lecture by a world elite chess player who is, at the same time, highly successful academically in a LOCAL chess club! I might not understand her games in the Women’s World Championship, as a chess parent, however, I was eager to know her growth and advices on parenting chess kids.

Last Saturday, Abe and I went to the lecture. As it turned out, part of her lecture on the games in the championship was very enjoyable, even to me. I felt all the audience, both kids and adults, were engaged and amazed by her lecture. On advices giving to parents, she said, based on her own experience, parents might want to study together with kids at beginning. Later on, parents should put a faith that the kids can be on themselves and  let kids have more freedom. Lufei said, even now days, she still got many advices from his dad, she usually disagree on many of them, but some are useful. She said, her dad might be equivalent to a Class B player. I thought: ” His dad is much better than me, I probably is a class H player at my peak. Abe might disagree more than many of what I’d say later.”

A lecture by Lufei Ruan

On the way home I listed to Abe somethings I learned from the lecture such as “do not play passively” “Always try to win” and “endgame is important”; I asked Abe what I missed. “Do not create (too many) weaknesses.” he added.

A chess tournament on a Sunday afternoon

On the way back home, I believe, I heard an interesting story from the NPR, a public radio station. At first, I heard “Tiger Mother”. Oh, more on Pushy Parenting, I thought. Then I heard that this guy’s IQ was estimated to be 50 to 100 points higher than Albert Einstein’s. Then, this guy entered Harvard University at age 11 while being qualified for admission when he was nine. What a child prodigy!  If you are interested to hear the story, click here.

The next day, last Sunday, there was another chess tournament nearby in the afternoon, “Do you want to go?” I asked Abe. “It was up to you.”His mommy added.  Abe replied “No” the night before, “Yes” in the morning and then “No” again at the noon. I guessed that he was too tired and needed a break. Maybe we can stay at home and watch a movie together.

The DVD was borrowed from library last week.  It’s named “Like stars on earth — every child is special”. Since the movie was about a kid, his parents and one of his teachers, I thought, the whole family might enjoy it, probably, at Saturday night. Actually, we watched it at Sunday afternoon.

The movie lasted almost all the afternoon — it ran more than two and a half hours. In addition, there were some conversations in foreign language. I was surprised to find out Abe and I finished the whole movie, with some help of English subtitles. “It is a long movie, but very moving.” I said. Abe nodded. The story showed LOVE was the utmost force in discovering the talent of a seemingly retarded kid with “dyslexia”. I also got moved by some song like “Perseverance will bring the applause of the world” even you are misunderstood at the beginning.

After dinner, while Abe was playing Wii games, I asked him to do his homework.

“Wait, Daddy forced me to watch a movie all afternoon.” he must thought now Daddy should not force him to do another thing.

“But you don’t need to finish it if you don’t like it,” Mommy replied.

“I have to; it was such a heartbreaking movie.”

As Abe’s rating jumps and dives, I know that there are apparent weaknesses in his game, it needs time and experience to fix them. For example, as more than one person mentioned, Abe needs improve his endgames. But if not slowing down and not playing with strong opponents, as i understand, you might not have any experience playing the endgame. Abe slowed down a lot recently, and I prefer him to play with strong opponents, even most games results in losses.

In the past several tournaments, I said “good job” to him after each of Abe’ loses, he slowed down, put a good fight and I was happy for him.

I couldn’t agree more. “Win or lose, I don’t care. Just keep playing.” Yes, as a chess dad, I want to tell my son the same thing and, “If you win, it is good and you are lucky. if you lose, it is fine, you will learn more by analyzing your game.”

An interesting position in a chess game

The above picture showed that an interesting position was reached in a game of the tournament, Abe was playing white, he lost the game in the end. When I pointed him a late blunder analyzed by computer software, he replied,” How could I miss that, I must have messed up my notation.” — OOPS.

I was asked by the organizer the night before the tournament, if Abe could play the double round robin section— a little stronger than the single round robin section—due to some conflicts. My intention for the tournament was to see if Abe could play slow. A little stronger did not matter, or quite the opposite, maybe it’s a little better if Abe took opponents more seriously and hence slow down his games. I felt Abe has passed the stage that he would be very upset to his losses to stronger opponents. In fact, Abe performed better on those occasions. So “No problem.” I said.

The round robin tournament was held in a very nice hotel near our home. There were six people in Abe’s section, everyone plays with each of  other opponents, so five games in a weekend, then switching color, five games in another weekend of next month.

The tournament was held in a well-lighted room in a nice hotel. I could watch Abe's games through the big windows

Abe used more than half of times allocated (Game in 90 minutes if ignoring the time increments) in 4 of the 5 games. I was quite happy to his performance in general. He slowed down and took time to think. He scored 1.5 points out of 5. Considering his opponents are all higher rated than him, it is a fine performance. We even had a small celebration, not for winning or drawing his games, but for he played slowly. I told Abe “Hope it  remind you to slow down.”

Today I heard that Vietnam top player Le Quang Liem (2694) lost to Botswana player Kheto Phemelo (2266) in the first round of Chess Olympiad. The reason that a 2200+ player could win over a 2700 player will be scrutinized by many. I think since anyone can make mistakes in chess, it is important be patient to take advantage of your opponent’s mistakes. “You could play better when you slow down.” as I told Abe many times.

He did so poor in the Illinois Open held in the labor day weekend, after a couple of losses, I told him, “I don’t care you win or lose, I will be satisfied if you take your time.” One day on the way to lunch, I explained to him ” when I say take your time, I mean take your time to think or to take a nap if you want to as long as you don’t snore.”But he only took my advice for one game, he blitzed his game again the next one and lost. After the game, I told Abe, “You made me angry! You blitzed again.”

I think I started to ask him to slow down more than a year ago, at least from this post in January. But Abe’s bad habit’s not been fixed. Fixing the old habit might take much longer than a year. Back home, Abe said to me, “I am sorry (I did not listen your advice to slow down), but you have to deal with it.”

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 Abe is playing chess. David, his little brother and Mommy also came along with him, they are at the farmers’ market nearby.

Abe is playing chess

David and Mommy are at farmers' market nearby

Abe’s post event rating is 1700, as he guessed during the tournament. Although chess ratings should not be overly concerned, Abe’s rocky journey in terms of  rating changes  in the past four months is still of interest to me. In April, over a span of two weeks,  he unexpectedly shot up his rating from 1515 to 1720. Unfortunately but not unexpectedly, his rating took a dive in the following two months to a 1554 . Then he spent the past month climbing back to 1700.

Abe played quite some tournaments recently, even during his valley.  I think that more tournaments might accelerate his dive, and also accelerate the happening of his coming back. Anyway, it is summer, Abe has time playing more tournaments.

More ups and downs are waiting ahead.  Get ready, it’s a fun ride.

At the end of the camp, I found Abe got the first places in both blitz and puzzle solving in his group, but he did poorly in the tournament of regular games. He said he lost 2 rounds to lower rated players on time. I told him it’s OK: “Let’s worry about it later”. I felt in recent tournaments, he started to slow down his games. Instead of finishing a game quickly, he could use most of the allowed time in some games. He started to calculate deeper, think more about chess variations. Now, I would think it was a good thing even he could lose on time.

Last weekend, immediately following the chess camp, Abe played in Class B section of  Chicago Class 2010. He had 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, so not bad at all.  One of funniest things in the tournament was he told me the reason he lost round four was because “I played too quick.” It’s a surprise to me, in many of the previous tournaments, I told him to slow down again and again but appeared to no avail at all. This time, he admitted his mistake before I had a chance mentioning it . Maybe it was a new development? Maybe it was because of last week’s chess camp?

Whatever the reason is, let’s just hope for the better of his future games.

As many people and the police will be relieved by this news, however, it is unexpected to hear “…there’s already talk of a movie deal. Harris-Moore’s mother, Pamela Kohler, has reportedly hired Courtney Love’s lawyer to represent her in any entertainment deals…”

Be serious, parents. The kid is a kid with a lot of talent; if he is doing something honest, I would be happy to hear he and his mother have a decent living. However, not now, it is not time yet to profit from it, before you have done your job—being a good parent— and your kid has become a man (a similar case reported here).

Unlike Agassi and countless other tennis prodigies, Federer never had to deal with pressure from an ambitious parent…His Swiss-born father… and his mother, who is South African, …played recreational tennis at the firm’s small club close to their house… “We’d spend weekends on the tennis court”…”Roger had unbelievable coordination at very young age… We noticed this, but we didn’t push him. All the major decision of his spots career he took himself.”

It was Roger’s decision, at twelve, to quit playing soccer and to enter the program at the Swiss National Tennis Center, in Ecublens, two and a half hours by train from home…he stuck it for out for three years…

Upon reading this article, I felt that

• Roger got immersed in the tennis environment by joining tennis-enthusiasts parents.
• Parents are the big support along the way.
• Right Coaching, right parents. It does not matter that the guidance is from coach or from parents or both.
• Hard working. Roger mastered it from a very young age.

In order to verify those observations by reading more details of Roger Federer’s growth, I borrowed the book from the local library:  The Roger Federer Story: Quest for Perfection. You may find the following excepts from the book fascinating:

…Little Roger hit his first tennis ball over the net at three-and-a-half years old. At four, he could already hit twenty or thirty balls in a row…

…He played soccer, handball, basketball, table tennis and tennis and, at home, he even played badminton over the neighbor’s fence…

…For hours, Roger hit tennis balls against a wall, a garage door, in his room against a wall or even against the cupboard in the house. Pictures and dishes were not safe and his sister’s room wasn’t spared either…

Abe at Sunday's chess tournament

I had been telling him all the time: 1) Do not spend too much time on video games and 2) Slow down, therefore, try his best during chess matches. The reasons were: 1) Once having an opportunity, he would play for video games for hours non-stop, which decreases interest and time for others activities. 2) He usually played very fast when he was a beginner— in fact, the quicker the game, the more likely he would win. But not now (after around 1400, maybe) —the quicker he played, the more he could get punished. In order to win, he has to slow down and try hard for each game.

I do not know he will do better or worse in the next few months, I do believe he could get better in the next couple of years if he keeps his interest in chess. His long term performance should be in proportion to his chess knowledge: if he rises too quickly in rating, later on, his rating could drop— he needs time to catch on what he lacks.

Of course, short term performance, which nobody should  care about, could be much different than the rating. Win or lose, “it is OK as long as you tried your best”, as I have been telling Abe.

After the first day’s camp, upon picking him up, I asked him: “What were the topics for today?”

He replied with quite a few topics, which were way over my head, however, I still wanted to ask him in order to make sure Abe had not forgotten all he learned for the day.

“Can you understand the lectures or they are too hard for you?” I asked him.

“Yes, I can understand them, although I am not sure remembering them all.” He replied. I relieved a little bit.

“One of the teachers mentioned something that he said he would not tell to a lower rated player (or other groups), so group 5 teaches more than group 3.” He said. I was glad that Abe agreed with my assumption before the camp—you could learn more from the stronger group.

Abe was excited with the lectures after each day at the camp. Especially he thought it’d be cool using the chess databases as the teachers have them.  They are expensive toys, but would be very helpful in chess study, especially on openings and endgames. I worried that since he need to stay on computer to use the chess database software, would he stay doing chess study or switching to computer video games quickly? Nowadays, Abe spent too much times on video games already. Therefore, I haven’t made my mind to purchase them yet.

Although I deliberately avoided asking how he did in his tournament, Abe was eager to tell me he could beat some much higher rated opponents if not his later blunders. Maybe Abe can remember those blunders and learn from those.

Friday came and went; the week long chess camp seemed so short.

Too bad, Abe could not go to a chess tournament the following weekend to practice what he just learned. We stayed at home on Saturday and went to a trip (a conference trip for Mommy, a vacation for the rest of us) on Sunday morning.

I do not know the reason behind the story. In fact, I do not want to know-it must be a very sad story. It happened, to a young graduate, how sad it was, how shocking were the parents of the kid upon hearing the news. Hope similar cases would  not happen to other kids! But, today, the very sad story happened in New York to a bright high school student.

Whatever the reasons may contribute to it, as a parent, how should you contribute to stop the happening of such tragedies? From now on, let your kids know:” Even when you have a setback, you have many many more chances to fight back. Whether it is your fault making the mistake, but that is your previous fault, you can forgive yourself; let’s not make a current or future fault. ” Maybe we should learn more from this moving story, maybe we should read it once again, if you can.

The tournament was held in a local chess center. There were stacks of old Chess Life magazine in the room; I could read some of them while waiting for Abe’s games. One issue dated 1998 had an article about the 1998 National Elementary Championship. Hikaru Nakamura (current GM and 2008 National Champion) scored 6.5, the first in the section of the K-5. Also tired with him were two other players. In fact, Abe lost to one of these players in a tournament just less than two months ago. In that tournament, that guy was an expert.

Abe looked in awe when he read the article. Maybe he was thinking he was indirectly related to GM Nakamura. Maybe he was thinking how much he can improve in ten years: three hundred points? or more?

I also read an interview about Aleksandr Landerman (current GM) after he won the U16 world champion. His advices to other young chess players were something like: 1) play more OTB (over the board) games 2) study your own games 3) read good books. I told Abe: “We are doing #1, should you start #2.”

I know only time can verify my plan: someday Abe himself will get out of the slump. In the meantime, why not enjoying a song by The Beatles:

…

Let it be, let it be

Let it be, let it be

Yeah, there will be an answer let it be

Let it be, let it be

Let it be, let it be

Whisper words of wisdom

Let it be

…

• had work
• confidence
• love, guidance and sacrifice from parents
• guidance and criticisms from tutors, even sporadically.

As Henry David Thoreau said in Walden: “However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The faultfinder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house.” I envy and congratulate Gary for his glorious hour.
I whole heartily recommended this great book to any chess parents, chess educators, chess players or someone may have an interest in it. I ordered my copy from the publisher’s website.

After losing and losing, Abe had the one win at the last round. I joked since he was in good mood on the way going home.
” I wish it is the first round, not the last round.” I was pretty sure he thought the same.

In the parking lot, we saw some interesting plates and some interesting texts marked on the car:

"Got chess?"

"I play E4"

"USCF 1"

I also saw one plate saying “Mr Chess” the day before, but it’s a pity I did not take a picture of it.

OOPS, some pictures of the tournament:

Chicago Open 2010

last round of Chicago Open 2010