I'm back! (Thanks for filling in this morning, honey.) I arrived in Indianapolis just in time to watch about the last five minutes of Round 6. For the last hour of the drive Phillip was giving me regular updates via cell phone, and for the last fifteen minutes or so we didn't hang up. We were interrupted at one point by the fire alarm going off in the hotel where the tournament is being played! It turned out to be a false alarm (I always kind of wonder about those "false" alarms in public places) and the game proceeded. As is so often the case, Trevor's game was the last one to finish. So I quickly found a place to deposit children and belongings and joined my husband and other onlookers in the board-side nail biting. By the time I got there Trevor was down to a rook and a pawn against his opponent's lone rook. Given that the rooks cancel each other out, it all boiled down to whether or not Trevor could get his pawn to the other side of the board, whence it would be promoted to a queen and he'd win the game.
Excuse me? Did you say something? Oh, you mean you would like to know how the game turned out?
It was a draw. :-) At the conclusion of the game Trevor and Robert exchanged handshakes and smiles as they each finished the Denker 2009 Tournament of High School Champions with 4 points each. And Miss Abby Marshall of Virginia (one of only two girls in the tournament) drew her last game, giving her clear first place. Abby, a senior, may now claim (if she so desires) a 4-year full scholarship to the University of Texas at Dallas! Congratulations, Abby! Let's hear it for girl power (something that is statistically rare in the chess world).
The award ceremony is starting soon. We don't know Trevor's final position, but of course as soon as we do we'll post it here
UPDATE: Trevor tied for 5th place, and so was recognized at the awards ceremony. A nice finish to a wonderful tournament!
Can you believe this young man is not finished with chess this week? His first round of the U.S. Open starts TONIGHT!
8 comments:
Congratulations! What an exciting tournament!
Cheryl,
Thanks for your excellent coverage of the tournament. I've been so out of it lately I didn't even realize it was under way until you nudged me.
Congratulations to Abby for winning and to Trevor for representing the Prairie State with distinction.
Tom
Cheryl,
I enjoyed your blog. I, too, had a child playing in the Denker, but after taking her to Indianapolis, my wife and I had to leave the next day. Through your blog, though, we were able to experience some of the highs and lows of the tournament vicariously.
I hope your son has good luck in the Open. Any chance you will do some more blogging?
Jeff
Thanks Cheryl and Phil for sharing the excitement of Trevor's tournament. I didn't read the blog until it was over - too much suspense! Congratulations Trevor.
Suzanne L
Hi,
I'm sorry about Trevor's loss to Ethan Peake, but I had to mention that his mother, Linda, is my cousin. Linda's father is my father's older brother. Ethan was the Denker rep for OR in 2007.
Our family is originally from OR, but we moved to the MD suburbs of DC around 1960. The move was a result of a job transfer as my father was a Pharmacist in the VA.
Last year after Scott's great performance in the Denker and improving his rating to 2210, he gave the points right back with
a poor US Open in which he played down the whole tournament.
Good luck to Trevor for the rest of the tournament.
Tim
Cogratulations to Trevor on a fine performance. Thanks for the coverage Cheryl.
Tom Sprandel
Illinois Chess Associaton
Tim,
Thanks for the history on Ethan - it puts Trevor's loss in context, and so is encouraging.
Sorry Scott lost all those points at US Open last year. Nine games with everyone in one section sure makes this a "high stakes" tournament ratingswise!
Hi,
Regarding Abby's win of a full scholarship, I guess that is possible because only 1 scholarship was awarded this year.
Last year, there were 3 winners with 5/6: Daniel Yeager, Julian Landaw and Scott. Julian was a senior and was not eligible for the scholarship and I believe he is going to U of Cal Berkely.
UTD was very generous to Scott because they could have only awarded 1 scholarship to Daniel because his tiebreak was better than Scott's.
Daniel and Scott's scholarships were 4 year tuition and fees plus $500 per semester for housing.
Of course, the scholarship could be increased depending on the applicants other qualifications.
Daniel is planning to go to UTD this fall.
Tim
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