My son did a week-long summer chess camp when he was 7. It was fun but very intense and we didn't do it again.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to try a chess tournament- my son was very excited. We drove 2 hours to the San Francisco Bay area for this free chess tournament. He lost 3 and drew one game, but his games took a long time. He really held up well. We later learned that basically all of the 100 or so kids at the tournament were in a daily chess academy in San Francisco.
I realized that there was the whole, crazy world of competitive children's chess! Most of the kids were Chinese or Indian. After each match, either their parents or their chess coaches were screaming at the kids in Hindi, Chinese, whatever!! It was really horrible.
I felt like telling them that it was unlikely that their child would get to Harvard on a chess scholarship!!
Last edited by jack'smom; 11/27/11 01:30 PM.
