My First Chess Tournament
On September 26th, 2020 I competed in the Eastern Idaho Open, which was my first US chess rated tournament. I had competed in mini tournaments on chesskid.com, but they didn't really tell me how good I was and I really wanted to compete in a real chess tournament.
Here is how my chess journey started. I like to play chess because, unlike other games, where it's all up to chance, in chess you actually get to think and strategize and make moves yourself, there are no cards or dice telling you what to do.
My dad showed me how to play chess when I was four years old and I still remember when he showed me the kiddie checkmate, although the proper name is the scholars mate. At seven years old I played chess on the chess.com app for a few months until I lost interest. When I was eight years old, I was interested in chess again and my parents got me a gold membership on chesskid.com. It allows you to watch unlimited videos and do as many lessons as you want, I learned a lot of tactics and checkmates from the main video author, FIDE master Mike Klein.
In order to compete in rated tournaments, my father got me a two year membership in US chess federation. In preparation for the tournament I did as many puzzles and games as I could and then I took a day off.
DAY OF THE TOURNAMENT
On the day of the tournament I had breakfast and then my parents set up my camera. Because of Covid-19 the tournament was held online and we didn't have to go anywhere in the car.
GAME 1:
My first game began in a matter of minutes and I had no idea that I was playing the Chair of Math at Idaho State University. I did really good, but lost in the endgame and even the computer said that it was a close game and that I lost to a small mistake. Here is the critical moment when I made a blunder:
Here I have just moved my king to g1 and after pawn to e2 I have no good move to play and the game is lost.
GAME 2:
I had a little break and then I was playing against another opponent. I was doing really good, but then I made a mistake here in this position.
Here I have moved my rook to c6. After opponent's bishop on c2 captures the knight on f5 and I capture back with either pawn, his queen goes to d5 with check. I block with the rook, he captures my rook on c6 and the game is lost.
GAME 3:
By my third game I was pretty tired and I didn't do that good. Here is the position where I blundered:
I have played king d1, which is a blunder because the rook on c2 will capture the pawn on g2 and then another blunder, pawn to h4! I just hung my bishop, but my opponent wasn't interested in my bishop and he skewered my king and rook. I resigned because there was no way to win when I was down a rook and a knight.
GAME 4:
On my last game I played the president of the Idaho Chess Association! Here is my game, I did pretty good, but I missed his tactic and lost the game:
I was doing pretty well until I made the wrong move in this position:
I have just moved my rook to f8, which is a blunder because I am completely losing after bishop to h6, rook e8, then queen captures f7.
During the tournament I lost all four games and I was a little bit discouraged. Then Jeff, one of the organizers of the tournament, called and asked how it went and I said that I had lost all the games, but did really good on the first one. After he found the game and analyzed it, he was impressed that I held my own and told me that the person I played was the Chair of Math at Idaho State University
I felt much better and we celebrated my first tournament with roasting marshmallows over a fire.
Overall, I like tournament chess, but you have to make sure that you don't let the losses get you down and just play your best chess, and maybe you'll win the next tournament. Of course, if you win your first tournament, you are doing great. Just keep in mind that I'm a nine year old kid.
How did your first chess tournament go? Let me know in the comments.
<meta name="google-site-verification" content="Quyj3lA7rNcR6A2hMEMDGPr2vxEM_QXgYJsj-osDcJM" />
google-site-verification: googlef0ecaccd65687f7f.html
