You didn't necessarily mistake because of a chess reason.

Try doing logic puzzles that have nothing to do with chess for a little while, see how they break down, look at your reasoning, etc. and then apply that to chess.

Didn't see anyone else respond to this. Generally I'm as strong an advocate as anyone of not missing the chance to play a chess tourney if you can... but I think this is a "family comes first" case. Meet the kid imo.

Yeah I completely agree with Bjj. Might be different if yuo do it as a profession but as a hobby family comes first imho

I know, I know. And I'll be glad I did. But dang them for picking that weekend

I know I'll sound like a jerk for saying this but I'd play the chess. The kid is 3.5 months old, their personality isn't formed and they won't remember it anyway.

who cares about personality, they're so cuuuuuuute.

It's more the chance to see how my son reacts to a baby for the first time.

Also, he started saying "chess" today. The thing about "first words" is that it's hard to really pinpoint when they mean something by their babble. There's no single moment when they say their first word. And he's said something like "jusss" when watching me play before or when I let him play with the pieces.

But today, he got a hold of one of my books and was flipping through it and saw the chess diagrams and started saying "chess" clear as day.

He turned 18 months last week. I figure he's got three years to hit Class C or we can forget about prodigy status.

Nakamura didn't reach 1400 until he was 9.

well 8

And he's a degen blitz player who hasn't cracked the top 5 in the world. I'll be proud of my son no matter what, but I have higher expectations than that.

Well obviously. Just don't have 6 kids

That fishing pole trap I mentioned the other day almost always works on BethO, one of the ICC computers to whom I've tilted away so many standard rating points over the years. My tilting against that computer is pretty much the reason I stopped playing general standard over there and just focused on the "pure" pools.

So that right there made it worth the time to learn.

What???

Degen blitz player? I think you mean one of the best blitz players in the world.

He's a serious tournament competitor.

He just won Wijk An Zee! He just landed in the top 10, and he's only 23 years old. Give him a few years to crack top 5.

Jeez.

All blitz players are degens.

You know, I joke about it, but at my last tournament I was talking to a guy before I played him, and he was telling me about his son. Apparently his son had won the kindergarten national championship or something a few years ago, but had fallen behind and was now no longer in the top 100 lists for his age. He said it conversationally, but you could tell there was just a tinge of disappointment.

I think it'd be awesome if my son plays chess, and I'll certainly encourage it, but I hope I never turn into that guy. (But he was rated like 1900, so I guess I wouldn't mind being him).

Let's say his son was 6 yrs old as a kindergartener and is now 9 years old.

Top 100 list for 9 years old:

#100 is rated 1323.

For his son to be K-national champ and not even be rated 1323 three years later, in addition to the father being 1900 USCF himself.. doesn't really add up.

If this is the truth (maybe he's bs-ing about the K-national champ.) then the kid probably does Not like to play chess and is being forced into it.

Dude you don't want to be some guy because he is 1900. Just be you and be awesome.

"Kindergarten National Champion" is a term that isn't so clearly defined, there's a couple different events you could win and claim that title.

Last year's winner of one of those events was rated 860 going into the tourney, before scoring a perfect 7/7 to win the K-1 field. Impressive result, and his rating jumped to 1145 afterward. Since then he's played three tourneys, scoring 0.5/4 in a regular adult G/60 event (with a draw against his 1313 rated older brother), then scoring 0/1 in a scholastic event where he lost to a 938 provisional rating and withdrew, then scoring 1/5 in another scholastic event. He's now rated 1030. Of course he's still only six, and if he sticks with the game and continues working I'm sure he can easily get above 1323 by the time he's nine, but who knows if that will happen or not? Add in the fact that people can be rather unspecific with the word "few" and we may be looking at a kid who is 11 or 12 now, and there's nothing weird at all about someone that age no longer being on the top-100 list, despite winning a national event in kindergarten.

His kid looked a lot older than 9 or 10. I'm not a good judge, but I would have guessed 13 or 14.

Simple Solution to Mystery:

1)Go to uschess.org
2)Find Crosstable for this tournament and your opponents last name
3)Search the last name and figure out which is the kid
4)Click His Tnmt. History and look


Might be difficult if their last name is Smith or something, otherwise should be too hard. Rating will be of someone in the 1,000s with an ID # probably starting with 13******* or close to.

Done.

Okay, the kid is currently rated 1640 and finished in a three-way tie for first in the kindergarten section of the US K-12 Championships in Houston, Texas in 2005.

The two kids he tied with are now rated 18XX and 20XX.

so yeah 1640, 6 yrs after winning a kindy championship is gotta be a pretty big fail. Although 18xx and 20xx aren't super great either, almost always if you don't reach 2000 by 10 you will not become a grandmaster. Elite Kindy players are probably mostly kids that are pushed into it, you can't love a game at that age, you need to have determined you love chess on your own to become that good, given the hard work involved.

everyone remember this? http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...497429&kpage=1 lol

So he's probably 12 now, then? And 1685 would therefore be what he needs for top-100 in his age category?

Never seen anything like it. It almost isn't chess.

Why does Rybka play 174. c4?

3 minute Rybka can only calculate so much and since the position is closed its tree searches cant see far enough ahead to know its a losing move, its trying to avoid a 50 move draw becauses it thinks its "winning".

Thats why naka played that way, closed the position andd sacraficed material needless to make the computer think it was winning when it wasnt. Then waited out till 50 move rule would come into effect for the comp to make bonehead moves so it wouldnt draw.