First Chess Tournament of 2011

Saturday was Noah's first chess tournament of the year. He was so nervous as we were pulling into the parking lot, he said he wanted to puke! Luckily it was close to our house and we arrived 30 minutes early and had plenty of time to chose our spot for the day and get him to his first match. No added stress of running late and getting lost as we have experienced in the past. Here he is so excited for round #1.

Four rounds. He finished the day 2-2. The weather turned out not so perfect. Caleb and I sat in the cold (67 degrees) rain for about 30 minutes after lunch and spent the last hour and a half of the tournament sitting in the car watching a movie. Here is what Noah's chess coach had to say about him in his post tournament email....

In the Mirage "K-3 Under 600" Section, Team Veteran Noah Selter won two and lost two with his attacking style controlling the tempo of every game. Coach Woody considers this an off score for Noah, as he has racked at least 2 match points in all of his outings so far. To my knowledge, Noah didn't lose any games where he had a lead after 20 moves - and consistency for him during games was an issue last semester.

"The big idea now is to get better play out of our first ten moves, and we'll certainly push a few of our lessons in this direction." comments the Coach. "Once we have a lead, chess becomes more enjoyable. So we're going for more leads starting this Wednesday, and focusing on early development of the 'crybaby pieces', the Knights and Bishops, which along with control over the center of the chessboard wins 81% of all documented games my students have played over the last 10 years."

Noah retains an ASCF rating of 243, second best in class, and he still has more tournament wins than any other player currently at Liberty.