Game of Life Series E.2: All Out Blitz

A little over a month ago we wrote this post here about introducing the game of chess to our sun LaPharaoh.

Since then we have continued with his development,  nothing too extravagant mainly just playing regularly. The chessboard literally travels with us wherever we go and has even garnered the nickname “chester”.

 

 

In the past month, LaPharaoh’s game has continued to progress. We made an executive decision, Order No. 1124,  aka find LaPharaoh some  stiffer competition!

We could always set him up to play online and/or via phone apps, but we feel his social interaction with others is important for his development as well. With a little research we made our way in the direction of some of the local chess clubs. With a simple google search “Chess Clubs near me”, we came across ENYCA (Eastern New York Chess Association). The website listed all the Chess Clubs in the area, gave locations to where they meet, and the contact details of the operator. I took down the contact info of all the clubs within an hr drive and put in a few calls. I never spoke to anyone directly, but my messages were returned promptly.

While we were narrowing down the different Chess Clubs, we received a tip that there was a community chess event in Schenectady, New York called “Chess in the City”. Chess in the City takes place throughout the summer up until about the last week of August.

From 11:30am-1:00pm, tables adorned with chess sets are placed outside in front of Proctor’s Theater on State Street for any and all to come hone their skills.

When we first heard about Chess and the City there were only 3 weeks remaining in this summers program.

The following Tuesday Our Trippy Tribe went to check it out first hand!

I must admit, it was amazing to sit back and see my little man go. Although we weren’t able to stay the entire time, LaPharaoh’s first day he managed to played 3 games, and finished 2-1 on the day.

We returned the following week to get some more quality games in. We were informed that they were doing signs ups for a Blitz Chess Tournament and although LaPharaoh was only 6, he was eligible to play. We thought “Why not… this should be good for him”, so we signed LaPharaoh up! The Blitz Chess Tournament was scheduled for the following week, August 28, 2018.

So, What exactly is a Blitz Tournament?

The Blitz Tournament works kinda like this:

Once you arrive, you check in and the tables are set up per usual, only this time they have numbers taped to them to designate where each match would take place.

A yellow piece of paper was posted on the wall which displayed which table you’d be located at, the pieces you would use (light or dark) and the pairings (which opponents would face off).

This Chess Blitz Tournament also did rankings, most players came already ranked, but with LaPharaoh, being new and all, started with a ranking of 400.

Once you have your pairings, your table, and know which pieces you’ll use, you head on over to your table and get ready for your match to begin.

The Blitz tournament consisted of 5 games in total. Each player had a maximum of 5 minutes to get his/her opponent in checkmate. All matches were touch-move, so if you “touch” a piece you were required to move it. Once your move is completed you would tap the clock and the timer would switch over and begin to count down the opponents time.

The game comes to an end in two ways; By checkmate, or running out of time. If you are put in checkmate you lose and if you run out of clock time this also qualifies as a loss.

Once the game is over you report the results to one of the judges and they update the standings. At that time you may have a few minutes to stretch or what have you before one of the judges posts the new pairings. The pairings are updated each game and always factor in the previous games results (if you won you play another winner and vice versa if you lost).

After the 5 games had concluded, prizes and awards were handed out and subsequent applauses given for all those who made the tournament possible.

Our Trippy Tribe showed up to the tournament ready to cheer on our guy. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves”…it was game time!

LaPharaoh ended up winning 2 games by checkmate and lost 3 due to being timed out. Despite being the youngest player participating he did a fantastic job. LaPharaoh had never played “touch-move”  or speed chess before that day so he was a little nervous.  I was extremely impressed with how he was able to hold his own.

All in all it was a great event, we met some interesting people and we look forward to next summer’s Chess in the City.

Next line of business settle in on a Chess Club…

oh yea, and invest in a chess clock!

Hope you enjoyed this edition of The Game of Life Series, check ya later mate 😀