The First Edition of the "Make Them Cry" Tournament (a friendly competition among my students)
A Different Kind of Blog Post: The First Edition of the "Make Them Cry" Tournament (a friendly competition among my students)
Today’s post is going to be a little different. Instead of the usual content, I want to share the story of a special event I recently organized: the First Edition of the "Make Them Cry" Tournament. Despite the dramatic name, this was a friendly, round-robin chess tournament I set up for a group of my students at roughly the same skill level.
The time control was 45 minutes with a 10-second increment (45+10), a format that gave players plenty of time to think while still keeping the pace steady. It was a round-robin tournament with 8 participants, many of whom were experiencing this kind of competitive structure for the first time.
The results, experiences, and lessons learned were truly memorable, for them and me.
Let’s take a look at the tournament table. I’ve only used the initials of my students’ names to protect their privacy. As you can see, J managed to win all of his games! But don’t be fooled, it wasn’t as easy as it might look. He had to overcome real challenges along the way. However, he did a fantastic job, just like the rest of the players. Everyone brought something special to the board.
Now I want all of you to look at a few of the standout moves my students played, moments that showed real creativity, calculation, or growth. Alongside those, I’ll also highlight some of the more common mistakes that came up during the tournament. If you recognize any of these habits in your games, don’t worry, you’re not alone. These are common mistakes that you will overcome in your learning process, but you need to identify them first and then work them out.
So let’s dive into my favorite positions from the First Edition of the "Make Them Cry" Tournament. There were more good moves and good moments, but I needed to make a selection. Once we’ve gone through the puzzles, I’ll talk about some of the most common mistakes I noticed along the way, just to help everyone level up for next time.
ommon Mistakes And What We Can Learn From Them:
Even though it was a friendly tournament, it revealed some recurring patterns that are worth highlighting, mistakes that many improving players make, and that we can all learn from:
- Overthinking in the opening and closing on time: Some players spent too much time in the opening, trying to find the "perfect" moves in familiar positions. As a result, they often ended up in time trouble later, with unnecessary pressure in the critical phases of the game.
- Blundering due to lack of final checks: A few painful games were lost simply because players didn't double-check their moves before making them. One extra look, especially for tactics, could have saved key positions.
- Unfamiliarity with middlegame plans in their openings: Many players played the opening well enough, but once the book moves ended, they weren’t sure what to do next. Understanding typical middlegame plans is just as important as memorizing the first 10 moves.
- Missing drawing chances in worse positions: Only a few games ended in a draw most players weren’t even considering that as an option. In several games, there were real chances for a perpetual check or a threefold repetition, but the players didn’t recognize the opportunity and ended up losing instead.
- Playing too fast as if it were a blitz game: Some players rushed through moves as if they were in a 5-minute blitz instead of a 45+10 game. This led to mistakes that could have easily been avoided by slowing down and using the time on the clock more wisely.
- Poor control of the center: Perhaps the biggest recurring issue was neglecting the center. Many games were lost simply because one side gave up central control early and never recovered. The center still matters a lot.
This was a fantastic experience, and I’m genuinely proud of how everyone played. I’m already looking forward to the next edition! If you're a teacher reading this, I highly recommend organizing something similar. It’s a fun and powerful way to motivate students, build confidence, and make learning stick.
Something I realized is that it’s probably better to run the next tournament with a faster time control something like 15+10 in a single day. A few of my students had a hard time keeping up over several weekends, and let’s be honest...some of their families probably wanted to kill me after eight straight weeks! Totally understandable… but still, absolutely worth it.
Actually, just to give you an idea: some of my students ended up playing their games while out at dinner, in the middle of concerts, even from bars! Definitely not what I had in mind, but honestly, it was all part of the fun. It was their first real tournament experience, and they made it work in their own way. That spirit of showing up, no matter what, is something I really admire. I’m so glad they were willing to dive in and make a big effort!
One of the biggest wins from this event was being able to do a proper diagnostic for each student afterward. We updated their lesson plans based on how they performed, what went well, and what still needs work. It was super useful and set us up for even better progress going forward.
If this kind of learning experience speaks to you, I’d be happy to help you improve in your chess journey. I hope you enjoyed this post, and see you around the board soon!
