Last Saturday, Abe had a bad tournament; he scored 1.5 points out 4. On the way to home, he said his face was so red (so he could not think calmly). I replied “Maybe you are over-excited (to rush)”. He had so many school activities this year. Every day, before dinner, he just got home [...]
If you have kids, who want to play chess in a scholastic tournament, you may want to consider this one. If the kid is just a beginner, it’s fine, he/she may get a free USCF membership, and this one is a good first one for the kid to treasure. If the kid is experienced, let [...]
Abe played at Chicago Open last weekend. He scored one win, two draws and four losses. Yesterday, after looking at computer analysis showing he made mistakes here and there in his games, he told me he did poorly at the tournament. I think it’s a good learning experience for him. Since the slow time control, [...]
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 [...]
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) [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Before round 7, Abe asked me to check his game during his play (The tournament hall was spacious, spectators were allowed). In other rounds, from now and than, I peeked at some games including his, and took a few pictures (I always had the flash off). He probably meant to check his game more often. I [...]
Maybe you’ve already known that the World Amateur Chess Championship 2010 will take place in Skokie, IL USA between March 19th and March 25th 2010, but you haven’t decided to register it or not. If you or your kids are chess players, living in the states, and have FIDE ratings of less than 2000 or [...]
Last Weekend Abe and I went to Indianapolis to play the 2010 US Junior Chess Congress. It was the first time Abe played chess tournaments out of state, his little brother: David and Mommy also came with us to show the support. The tournament was well organized, such as paring sheets were always posted twenty [...]
Abe has been to many chess tournaments, so has his little brother: David. On nice days, I bring the two brothers together, Abe plays chess in the playing hall, David and I stay in the skittles room or outside. Playing, eating, pooping and sleeping are David’s routine; I know how the day will be passed [...]
Last Saturday, Abe and I went to the the Blaze Fundraiser tournament. Abe hadn’t been to chess tournaments for about a month since he loved playing basketball games on Saturdays. The reason that I chose this tournament with assumption that Abe can play the chess tournament and still make his basketball game was: The chess [...]
Everyone likes Saturday. You may choose traveling out of town, going shopping, watching a movie, fixing something on your house, or like me, bringing kids to a chess tournament. Wow, so many choices, you choose whatever you like. Maybe not entirely true. As I mentioned in another post, Abe’s basketball games are on Saturdays. Most [...]
Last weekend, Abe and I went to the national Youth Action 2009 in Oak Brook, IL. About 500 kids competed there, since it is not uncommon to have both parents accompanying one kid, I think maybe more than 1000 people were in the hotel for that event. The picture below shows the playing hall before [...]
