Friday, January 7, 2011

Chess Championship 2010


Nic participated in the 11th New Generations Chess Championship 2010 after 6 months into Chess. My motivation for registering her was solely for her to have the opportunities to play with more players of her age group. As it is now, she only plays once a week with the same few players.

It was a full day event, 9am to 6pm. There were 7 rounds altogether. She really enjoyed the games but poor me and another mummy, Amy were rotting away. We tried to kill time by chatting and chatting till we ran out of topics. Then I surfed the net and I introduced some foodie blogs to Amy so that she could attempt to bake too.

At the end of 7 rounds, everyone was waiting anxiously, wondering if they would win a prize. Nic was very hopeful and she really wanted to bring the biggest trophy home. Deep down, I knew it was just a wish as the biggest trophy was reserved for the older age group. I didn’t pin any hope for her to win any of the top 3 prizes as her opponents were strong. Many came with personal trainers and they appeared very seasoned while Nic was just a freshie going in for some fun!

I only realized that many were serious players after speaking to a few parents. Their kids attend one to one lessons and many others have private instructors and they play everyday to improve on tactics and strategies even at such a tender age. ( 5 to 6 age group).

I was just clapping along when everyone lined up to receive their merit trophies. I told Nic to go along as I thought she would just receive a merit trophy for her participation. But, wait a minute, I didn’t hear her name in the merit list and I went forward to enquire. Before I could ask further, I heard Nic’s name being announced! She came in 3rd place! I was like Wow!..My little girl won a prize despite being an inexperienced freshie! A reasonably big trophy with a nice ribbon! Nic was overjoyed and was beaming with a megawatt smile too!

We went home with a contented and thankful heart! Immediately upon arrival at home, Nic called her grandma to broadcast the wonderful news and everyone back home was very pleased with the news indeed!

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