A Good Ending

As mentioned in the previous post, my son played in a chess tournament this weekened, one which I entirely missed out on because I had another very important engagement. This was his first time to play as an Expert (he has played other Experts before but has not officially competed since becoming one himself).

He had a fine weekend, finishing with 2-1/2 points (two wins, two losses, and one draw) in a very tough section. He also gained three rating points, moving from a 2000 to a 2003 rating and thereby creating just a little more breathing room for hanging on to that Expert status.

Since I was out of town and my husband was handling the tournament logistics by himself (along with caring for our youngest child and managing the normal weekend responsibilities), it was necessary for Trevor to be dropped off at the tournament and left to chaperone himself for certain periods of time. Considering his age and tournament experience plus the fact that he was competing at a familiar and secure location, we felt fine doing this after giving him clear guidelines about where he could and couldn't go.

But what also helped greatly was that community I wrote about in the previous post--the knowledge that the tournament site was crawling with people we know, particularly parents whom we specifically asked to look out for Trevor while he was on his own.

How ironic, then, that in Trevor's last "board" he found himself sitting across the table from one of those very good chess friends--a young man he always enjoys seeing and playing, both in formal competition and in "skittles" (casual play just for fun), and whose parents have long been a source of encouragement and wisdom to us in our own chess adventure. Trevor and Eric have had parallel chess "careers" for many years now, a parallelism that I dare say will remain for years to come as we continue watching the two of them grow both in their chess and their lives.

Thus it is fitting that in this final game of the tournament, played against a friend (and--I must add--formidable opponent), the outcome was a draw.

Congratulations to both players on an excellent performance, and thanks to ChessDad and his lovely wife for being our son's second parents this weekend. We look forward to seeing you all again very soon (maybe next month?).

Because I wasn't around to take pictures, and Trevor's dad is not the "shutterbug" I am, I can't provide any tournament photos. But here's one from the archives, showing one of the numerous times these two young men have found themselves having to face each other in competition (this particular photo was taken at the Illinois State Scholastic Championship a few years ago):



I think I will have plenty more opportunities to take photos like this one.