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.” [...]
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 went to three parties last Saturday. We went to two— the second one of his was a birthday party, we just needed to drop him off. So we left the first one early in order to make his second one, during the same time, we went to shopping to prepare the third one. We [...]
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 [...]
Last week, Abe attended a chess camp, the same camp he attended last month. There were quite a few grandmasters as instructors at the camp. The lectures in terms of depth and quality must be excellent since Abe told me they were all very good. The biggest benefit the chess camp brought to Abe, I [...]
Abe played in two tournaments last weekend — one on Saturday and one on Sunday, scored one point out of three and two points out of four, respectively. The performance was certainly not that good, however, it wasn’t as poor as his in recent weeks either. I had been telling him all the time: 1) [...]
Abe went to a chess camp last week. There were five groups in the camp based on ratings of campers. Abe was placed in the group 5—the strongest group. Abe also came to the same camp last year, he won the first place easily in his group— group 3 at the time (there were chess tournaments [...]
I was glad Abe was calm and in not a bad mood this raining Saturday. If you follow this blog, you know that he’s been in a slump in chess recently. In order for him to break out of the slump, I made the following plan: 1) He should play more games. 2) He should [...]
About months ago, I pre-ordered the book: Chess Child: The story of Ray Robson, America’s Youngest Grandmaster. I received it two days ago, finished reading it yesterday. It has been long long time since I finish reading a book in one day, not even the book Searching for Bobby Fisher. What a great father-son story. [...]
On the way to the parking lot from the playing hall, Abe said: “I am in a slump.” “You will get out of it someday.” “You know I have been on a losing streak since last tournament.” “It is OK.” I said. “But I learned nothing from it.” Pulling the car out of the parking [...]
Last Saturday, Abe had the worst performance in any chess tournaments—lost all four rounds, scored zero point in the end. Before the tournament, he said to me, as usual, “I do not want to go. Do we have to go?” We did not have other engagements on the Saturday. He might just fool around— watching [...]
Last Saturday, Abe and I went to a chess tournament. Abe did so-so if not poorly in the tournament. He lost one, drew one, and won two, all to lower rated opponents. Of course, there were still some thing good about the tournament. It’s not, however, the chess games themselves; it is the time in between [...]
Yesterday evening, driving Abe home from his soccer practice, I heard something interesting from an interview on NPR: Some one said that no chess players had reached grandmaster quicker than 10 years. I had an immediate doubt whether it’s a fact. I knew some recent chess prodigies got the GM titles when they were younger [...]
Abe and I went to another chess tournament this past Saturday. The tournament had five rounds. Abe lost two against experts and won the rest. I would think he was lucky pairing with two experts, it’s a good learning experience for him playing with strong opponents, and in addition, the entrance fee is only five [...]
OK, I am kidding. I don’t mean to borrow the title of book: From London to Elista, a chess book covers relative recent events. Abe likes it; he likes to read games, although he has not developed an interest in the anecdotes. Last Saturday, we went to Hales Corners Challenge XI in Milwaukee. Abe was eligible [...]
Abe usually gets up at 7 am at Saturdays, he then dresses up and goes downstairs to watch TV or play video games. But not last Saturday; I told him the night before, if we’d wake up at 7, we’d go to a chess tournament, otherwise, we wouldn’t go. I did not tell Abe about [...]
I like that the USCF ratings update after each tournament and they are publicly accessible on its website. So does Abe, I think. He sometimes browses the website, I don’t think he mainly worries his own rating; instead he does it out of curiosity of his friends or other players. Last Saturday, two days ago, [...]
The book is My life and Hard Times by James Thurber. Although it is an old book, it includes many short, sweet and funny stories; it’s the best written book I have read so far. I have no reservation to recommend it to kids and the parents to read. Check you local library, and I am [...]
