The chess tournament

So I'm a little slow in posting about this as it happened last weekend. But the fact that I'm posting about it at all is pretty amazing. Collin has a new hobby. It's chess. Yes I'm serious. How odd is that? But he loves it and he's "Going to be a champion". This is what his coach tells him and he believes it with all his heart. If only I had an ounce of his confidence!

He's been playing since the fall. He wanted to do a tournament earlier but I was reluctant. He is only 5. Competitive CHESS at 5? I thought not. So I said no. And I ignored him and pretended I had forgotten. But he begged and pleaded so much that I finally gave in. So last Saturday at 8:15 in the morning I loaded up both kids in the car and headed off to his school for his first ever chess tournament.

When we got there it slowly became apparent that I wasn't really prepared. I had no idea where to go or what we were supposed to be doing. We wandered around looking confused until we found his coach who led us to the right place. There we found his school mates settling in to practice and get their new t-shirts before round one started. At 9:30 the kids were ushered off in groups ("teams") of three to begin play. Parents were left standing around outside waiting and trying to keep warm and trying to entertain the little kids who weren't playing. It was during this that I realized I didn't bring a chair (most everyone else did) and I didn't bring any thing to eat. For me, or the baby. And Liam is at the point where he really wants something to eat other than breast milk by about 12. I almost thought we'd be fine, until I realized the first of three rounds didn't end until 10:45. Fortunately Aunt Kimi came to rescue us with food.

All in all it was good experience. Collin won his first match (against a 1st grader), and tied (or "drew" in Chess terms) the next two rounds against a kindergartner and another 1st grader. This scored him 2 points (1 point for the win and 1/2 a point for each draw) which was enough to earn him a ribbon. His team didn't win a trophy but he was thrilled with the ribbon. We are so proud of him and his coach was very impressed.

The back of his shirt.

Warming up before the tournament started.

Sitting at the table ready to begin the 1st round. I took this right before the parents got kicked out.