Chess Champion

A couple of weeks ago I asked Cameron if he wanted to sign up for the Goshen Chess Tournament scheduled for today.  He said yes at the time, but as the date drew near he wasn't quite sure that he still wanted to participate.  Cam had been an avid chess player for the past eight years, but I had notice that this year his interest had waned.  When I questioned him about it, he said that he felt that it just wasn't that challenging for him.  He had already accomplished what he wanted in chess and wasn't sure that he had the desire to put more time and effort into it.  Membership in chess club at Bethany had dwindled over the past few years and although he still went for the lesson on Tuesdays before basketball practice, he just felt that he hadn't learned as much and wasn't as motivated as in years past.

Since Cam still wanted to play in the individual state tournament in January I talked him into going to today's event.  It would be good practice for that and he would still be able to stream the Hoosier game against Louisville.  He agreed and this morning he and Doug checked in at 8:30 a.m. at Goshen Middle School for a day of chess playing.  There weren't a lot of his friends from Bethany signed up for today's tourney, but he did meet up with his former classmate, Kayden Mayer.  They both played very well as I would have expected and after four games found themselves 4-0 on the day and pitted against one another in the championship round.

While Cam was at chess I spent the afternoon Christmas shopping with Meg in Goshen.  She had a few items that she needed to purchase and I hadn't had a lot of time with her lately.  We had a fun time and I was able to drop her off at Bethany for her basketball game at Lakeland and still make it to Cam's last match of the day.  It was definitely a tense one.  Both boys lost key pieces early and about twenty minutes into the match found themselves with mostly pawns and a king. Cam had less pawns than Kayden, but had retained his bishop.  It took some time, but he finally was able to corner Kayden's king with a small army of chess pieces.  Before he even said checkmate, Kayden shook his handed and said nice game.

Once we took pictures and caught up with Kayden's family Doug headed for home.  He had picked up our new futon and was hoping to unload it before we headed back to Goshen for Meg's game.  It took a little while for the reserve section to finish all of the matches so that points could be awarded.  There were forty-eight players in Cam's section of the tournament today, so we were thoroughly impressed with his 5-0 record.  When everything was completed, Cam was the only person in his division to remain undefeated earning him the championship outright.  He was very happy as he had not won a rated session before.  He had finished in the top three, but never was champion.  We were proud of his win especially given his performance in the last match.  The best part of it all was that it renewed his interest in chess and he got to watch the end of the IU game.  Just like Cameron, IU won a close one at the buzzer.  It was a great day for our eighth grader.