Parental bragging

My son Walter decided to join Chess Club at his middle school this year. Last weekend they went to the district chess tournament, which is the culmination of their chess season. There were eight schools there, including his. The tournament went for seven rounds in which each school played every other school. Each school’s chess team consisted of six players, ranked from first to sixth. Each round the first place player for one school would play against the first place player for the other school, and so on down the line. Each round a team would earn one point for every game they won, zero points for every one they lost, and half a point each for a stalemate. At the end of the tournament the team with the highest point total would win.

Walter was third on his team, or their “Board Three” player. I did my best not to watch. Not that we could watch very closely anyway. They did have seating for the coaches and parents, but it was far enough away that you really couldn’t tell what was going on other than watch the growing pile of pieces alongside the boards. Even that was nerve-wracking enough. Walter tends to be a “come-from-behind” player, so it tends to look like he’s losing right up until he clobbers them.

It’s not fun to be a spectator at a chess match at that level. During one round I could clearly see Walter’s board, but my attention kept drifting to the next game over. One of his team mates had his opponent down to his king, and he pushed a pawn to get a second queen. He then proceeded to run out the clock chasing the king around, always one move away from checkmate, but never seeing it. It was painful to watch.

Walter, on the other hand, did well, winning five of his seven games–the best record on his team. He even beat his opponent from the team that got second place over-all. His team, however, struggled and ultimately came in fifth. That was where the real “action” was, frankly. Two of the teams were just dominant. The first place team only lost one of their 42 games. The second place team wasn’t far behind. But the third through fifth-place teams going into the final round were within three points of each other.

I think it was a good experience for Walter. He felt bad about his last game, in which he made some bad mistakes, but for his first tournament I thought he did quite well. Yes, he’s got lots of tournament experience from Pokémon, but there’s definitely a difference. Pokémon is not a team sport, for one. Chess is not customizable; you get the same pieces as your opponent, set up in the same positions and moving the same way. And even though there’s a time limit in both games, chess focuses on time much more. (I’m sure Walter wishes Pokémon had a chess clock to keep things moving–his dear old dad tends to sit and think a lot.)

Perhaps even better, though, was being part of the club to begin with. He met some new boys at school, including one who has become one of his best friends. I think he gained some confidence along the way, as well. And, of course, he had a lot of fun. As a parent you can’t ask for much more than that.