Chess Mates

Today, Mika participated in her first-ever chess tournament. It was also the first time her school’s chess club attended any “rookie” event, and our five pioneers met about 500 seriously determined elementary school kids from the New York Metro area. The first two games, Mika played very well and ended in a draw. One game with just the two Kings left standing, the other after going into overtime and playing for more than one hour. In the afternoon, her attention faded and/or she got paired up with significantly stronger players – and she lost games 3 and 4. Still, a solid achievement for somebody who doesn’t play much beyond the one weekly afterschool lesson. Bonus for the accompanying parent (me): the host school still had some original, 100-year old doorknobs … beautiful type detail of a bygone era!