Let The Games Begin
Saturday, July 26 2014
7:15 AM
Mr. Burke here with the latest coverage of John Michael's
ongoing chess adventure. The Burke
family is at the Rosen Centre Hotel in sunny Orlando, Florida, which is the
center of the chess world for the next 9 days.
Right now I am the only Burke awake - Michele and John Michael are
sleeping in after a 5 day Disney family vacation. John Michael will be playing in the Barber
Tournament of K-8 Champions from 7/26 to 7/29, and then will be competing in
the 115th Annual United States Open Chess Championship from 7/30 to 8/3. Should be an action packed, exciting 9 days
of top level tournament chess. I am
going to attempt to provide a "real time" feel to these tournaments for
the next 9 days, and present the action to you "as it happened".
For those of you that have not been ardently following
the scholastic chess scene for the last several years, here is the scoop on the
Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions: This tournament is an offshoot of the
Arnold Denker Tournament of High School Champions that was started in 1985 by
GM Arnold Denker. The Denker tournament
(which is also taking place in Orlando this weekend) was started to promote
chess excellence among the country's best high school players. In 2011 the Barber tournament was created in
an effort to promote the top K-8 players in the country. It was named to honor Dewain Barber, a long
time scholastic chess advocate. In 2013,
the National Girls Invitational Tournament was started, modeled after the
Barber and Denker tournaments. All 3
tournaments are held each year at this time, and will be held simultaneously
alongside the US Open.
The Barber K-8 is a prestigious tournament, one of the
top scholastic tournaments that take place each year (think of a
"major" tournament in tennis like Wimbledon or a major golf
tournament like The Masters - there are many scholastic tournaments that take
place each year but only a few "majors"). You can find more info at Barber Chess
Each state sends their official K-8 state representative to the Barber. In New Jersey, the Barber representative is determined by the winner of the New Jersey Junior Championship which is held each May. In that tournament, John Michael was tied after the 5th and final round with Praveen Balakrishnan (a top K-8 player in New Jersey). The NJ Junior was decided in a series of blitz games between Praveen and John Michael. First was a game/15 (ended in a draw), then a game/10 (ended in a draw), and finally a game/5 which John Michael won. Normal tournament games typically take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours - having the NJ Junior come down to a series of 5-15 minute games definitely made for an exciting event. Blitz games can go either way, and fortunately for John Michael he was able to prevail, earning him a trip to the Barber tournament in Orlando, where he will attempt to become the national Barber champion.
Each state sends their official K-8 state representative to the Barber. In New Jersey, the Barber representative is determined by the winner of the New Jersey Junior Championship which is held each May. In that tournament, John Michael was tied after the 5th and final round with Praveen Balakrishnan (a top K-8 player in New Jersey). The NJ Junior was decided in a series of blitz games between Praveen and John Michael. First was a game/15 (ended in a draw), then a game/10 (ended in a draw), and finally a game/5 which John Michael won. Normal tournament games typically take anywhere from 3 to 6 hours - having the NJ Junior come down to a series of 5-15 minute games definitely made for an exciting event. Blitz games can go either way, and fortunately for John Michael he was able to prevail, earning him a trip to the Barber tournament in Orlando, where he will attempt to become the national Barber champion.
A lot has happened since the Supernationals in April of
2013 (the last national championship tournament covered on this blog). In April of 2013, John Michael's rating was
2079. In September of 2013 John Michael
reached the 2200 rating threshold and earned the National Master title (a
prestigious title awarded to a player that reaches 2200 - currently there are
only approximately 900 active Masters in the United States). John Michael's current rating is 2295, which
makes him the 448th highest rated player out of 53,080 registered USCF members
(99.2 percentile of all tournament players, adult or scholastic). John Michael
is currently the 6th highest rated 13 year old in the country (with 11 more
months to compete as a 13 year old) - Top 13 Year Olds - July 2014
It has been quite a ride so far for John Michael in the
chess world, with no end in sight - lots of milestones still to achieve. Most of John Michael's tournaments the last
several years have been "open" tournaments consisting of both adults
and children. Typically open adult
tournaments are the only tournaments available for strong scholastic players to
get the type of competition needed. John
Michael has not played many scholastic tournaments over the last few years
(World Youth Championship in Brazil, SuperNationals in Tennessee). The Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions is a
great opportunity for John Michael to win a prestigious scholastic national
title, an opportunity that does not come often.
There are 48 players in the Barber K-8 tournament, and John Michael is
the second highest rated player - he is definitely one of the favorites to win
the event. It is a strong field,
consisting of 9 Masters and 13 Experts (players rated 2000-2199. The Expert title is also a prestigious title
that only 5% of tournament players ever reach).
This is a tournament consisting of the best K-8 players in the country -
the competition should be fierce. You
can follow the standings and pairings at this link: Barber Standings
Tournament is a 6 game event - each player will play 6
games - it is not a knockout event. 1
game Saturday, 2 Sunday, 2 Monday, 1 Tuesday.
1 point for a win, 0.5 points for a draw. Highest score at end of 6 rounds wins. If 2 or more players are tied at the end of
round 6, tiebreakers will be used to determine champion. Generally the competition gets tougher as the
the tournament progresses, as the highest scoring players get paired against
each other in each round. Usually in a 6
round tournament of this type, a score pretty close to 6.0 is needed to
win. One wrong move in any of the 6
games could cost a player the entire tournament, which creates a very stressful
atmosphere for the top contenders. The
time control for each game is Game 90 with a 30 second increment. Each player has a total of 90 minutes to make
their moves, and gets 30 seconds added to their clock each time a move is
made. It is fairly common for games to
take anywhere from 3 to 5 hours when played under this time control. Lots of down time for the parents!
John Michael is rested and ready to rumble. Before traveling to Orlando, he did research
the top contenders and prepared for some opponents he may play. Pairings are never known until just prior to
the round, so it is always a fine line between preparing openings against
players that may or may not be played versus general chess preparation. GM Joel Benjamin is John Michael's coach, and
does a great job with John Michael - he couldn't ask for a better mentor. They spent some time working together to
prepare for the tournament - now it is time to battle it out to see who is the
best player in the country. Should be
fun! Going to catch up on some work now
(plenty of time to catch up on work during these tournaments).
11:00 AM
Breakfast at hotel cafe.
Making sure John Michael eats during tournaments is always
difficult. The adrenaline is flowing,
nerves are jangled, and eating is usually the last thing he wants to do during
a tournament. First round of tournament
is at 7:00 PM today, so it was fairly easy to get through breakfast - JM chowed
down on pancakes, bacon and fruit. One
meal down, 8 meals to go (this is how a chess dad thinks during a tournament).
12:15 PM
Walgreens run for water and snacks. There is a Walgreens right next to hotel -
made a trip to stock up on water and snacks.
When JM was younger, I used to stay in back of tournament room and bring
him a water bottle every hour or so. Now
that he is 13, I can load him up with 3 bottles of water and a cell phone, and
he simply texts me when he is done playing (he likes it better when I am not in
the room now). My only job at this point
as chess manager is to drive him to tournaments and make sure he eats and
sleeps as much as possible. In a few
years, he won't even need me to do that!
Funny thing about being a parent - it is a blast watching your son grow
up and mature, but a part of you wants them to stay 13 years old forever.
12:30 PM
Stroll around hotel.
JM is getting increasingly edgy, which means it is getting closer to
tournament time. The three of us went
for a stroll around hotel and convention center. Michele and I saw several family reunions
listed on hotel calendar that we are going to crash later (there are only so
many hours we can spend at the hotel bar!).
3:00 PM
Opening Ceremony.
Nicely done Opening Ceremony for all 3 tournaments (Denker, Barber,
NGIT). Lots of history with these
tournaments. Each state player
representative was named, and received a nice gold medallion for qualifying to
play in their respective tournament.
Ceremony ended with group pictures.
About 1.5 hour long ceremony - first round is at 7:00 PM. Going to hotel cafe again for dinner -
quickest option available right now.
Always looking for quickest food option during tournaments. Michele and I continue to discuss our party
crashing plan for the evening.
Tournaments didn't even start yet and Michele and I are already going
stir crazy! It is not easy being a chess
parent!
JM with medal
Opening Ceremony
JM receiving medal from Dewain Barber
4:57 PM
JM thinks he knows who he is going to play - a 1990 rated
player with no games in Chessbase. Before we flew to Orlando, I went through
Chessbase (chess database with 5 million plus games from around the world) and
compiled games from the top Barber players to help JM prepare. I was just informed by JM that there are many
other better sources of games out there.
Would have been nice to know this a couple of weeks ago :)
5:15 PM
Dinner - had the buffet.
Not normally a buffet fan, but this one was good. I can't keep eating this much!
6:00 PM
Back in room. JM
playing Vikram Srivastava from OH - rated 2009 (not who JM thought he was going
to play). JM is white. No games in Chessbase or online, so no
preparation possible. Water bottles
ready, chess clock ready, gift for opponent ready (at this tournament there is
a tradition for each player to exchange a small gift from their home state - JM
has 6 cool looking "Atlantic City" pens to give to his
opponents). Nothing to do but wait -
this is always the toughest part, waiting for round 1 to start. I always get butterflies before round 1, and
I am not even playing - I can only imagine the somersaults that JM's stomach is
doing right now. He is holding it
together well. Definitely has his game
face on.
7:00 PM
Round 1 begins right on time. Playing room is freezing - I think that is good -
better a cold room than a hot one. I go
back to room excited to get Michele and go to bar for Saturday night date. I am greeted with "we have a small
problem". Never good to hear those
words. Apparently we did not give our
neighbor all the keys to our house - neighbor is locked out and can't get in to
feed our cats. Have to call mother in
law to go over to our house with her keys - hopefully we have given her the
right keys......never a dull moment!
Michele doesn't want to go to the bar until we get key situation
resolved, so I am now in a hotel room on Saturday night watching Jeopardy
(which coincidentally has just had a category based on bars and drinks).
Adjusting pieces before game
Pre-Game Staredown
7:48 PM
In laws to the rescue!
Neighbor is in house - no need to call 24 hour locksmith! I can finally get out of this hotel room.
8:04 PM
At bar - almost time to check in to make sure JM is still
playing. My ritual during JM's games is
to stick my head in the room - if I see the back of his head I leave for
another hour or so before checking again.
Saturday night in Orlando!
9:00 PM
2 hours in - JM still playing. This is when I start to get nervous - a
couple of hours into each game. The
first few games of a tournament like this are nerve wracking. If JM lost game 1 it would ruin his
tournament chances, and if he wins it is more relief than anything, because he
was "supposed" to win against a lower rated opponent. Tough being one of the top dogs in the
tournament (at least it is tough being the parent of a top dog). JM doesn't like me going into the playing
hall to watch his games, and I respect his wishes. It is agonizing sitting outside the room not
having any idea how he is doing. Time
for another beer.....
10:00 PM
JM still playing.
Out of the top 11 boards, 10 are still playing - not uncommon for the
top rated players to play longer games.
No upsets so far in round 1 - every game that has finished has been won
by the higher rated player. Party
crashing idea didn't seem so good once we realized how tired we were after poor
sleep the last few nights. Michele has
gone back to hotel room and I have found a seat right outside tournament
room. Grabbed another bottle of
water. If JM comes out I can at least
feel like I am doing my part by having water ready for him. I will be camped out here for the rest of the
night. Isn't this thrilling commentary?
10:05 PM
Random adult asked me if chess store was still open. How would I know? Did he miss the huge "Chess Store this
way" sign not 5 feet from him? Does
he not know that I need to agonize in silence while my son plays? 9 days - I can make it - I think.
10:15 PM
I am always amazed by how many parents at chess
tournaments wait for their kids outside the playing hall and are doing
absolutely NOTHING while they wait. I
can't sit still for more than 2 minutes without getting antsy and bored. How can these people sit for hours just
staring into space? Different strokes
for different folks, I guess.
10:20 PM
JM exits tournament room.
I can never tell if he won or lost for the first 2-3 seconds I see him -
he hides his emotions win or lose. When
he comes over to me he whispers "I won" and all of a sudden it all is
worth it - the travel, the endless waiting around, the bad sleep, the rush to
eat between rounds - all of it fades away just by hearing those 2 magical
words: "I won". 1 game down, 5
to go. Going back to room for snacks and
bed. Hopefully we all sleep well
tonight. Will be back tomorrow with Day
2 recap.
