National Chess Tournament

We just got back from Scottsdale, Arizona, where the 14th All American Cup was held. We stayed in a BEAUTIFUL hotel, complete with two pools that were filtered with salt water instead of chlorine! HOORAY! My son could swim in between rounds! Ordinarily, he doesn't swim between rounds because the chlorine just knocks him down and gives him a nasty rash.

We had 9 rounds -- four on Saturday, and five on Sunday. My son was undefeated Saturday. Saturday night the kids went to Castles and Coasters (an amusement park) and got home tired around 10 p.m. Not good to be tired! His first two games Sunday morning he lost... :( BUT won the rest of his games that day!

The first round of the tournament we found out after the round started that my son was registered in TWO sections! He played in the "wrong" section first, came out about 3 minutes later stating he had won, and his coach sent him back in to play a game with another kid in the RIGHT section! He came out a few minutes later winning that one, too! So he played two games for the first round!

Now that one game? He actually won a trophy for it! Twentieth place! After our initial confusion at the awards ceremony, the coach and I just cracked up over that! But my son won 3rd place in his division! He received a HUGE trophy! His team for that division also took First Place!

Now let me tell you something about our kids here in Taos. They are ALL great kids and GREAT chess players! I think very few of our kids DIDN'T get a trophy! And our teams took either First or Second in all sections! Of course, we were the most vocal during the awards ceremony, too... :) The hardware we loaded into my truck to take back to Taos was incredible!

On the way back home yesterday, I decided to stop at Meteor Crater to give the kids a look. That was fun -- and a welcome break from our long ride! 'Course, the parents were all calling wanting to know why we weren't home yet (were supposed to get home around 5 p.m -- got home around 9 p.m.!). And, we had to stop at every sign for a store that advertised chess boards! LOL!

I'm sitting here typing this in my jammies, my son is still in bed, and I'm feeling sorry for the other kids who had to get up for school today... :( Homeschooling is one humongous perk to having an active 11-year old!!! When he gets up, he'll just start his schooling when he's ready -- and he'll be rested and ready!