A few months ago, in preparation for this trip to Germany, we had searched the Internet for suitable Chess tournaments that we could attend in Germany. We found that the region where Mum grew up and where Oma Elke, Opa Siegfried and Aunt Petra still live, Lippe, was holding their annual Chess Youth Single Tournament on 1 and 2 October. We signed up with a local club and were thus eligible to compete.
The tournament was run as Swiss system in the U12 category, but from all these participants they provided extra trophies for U10 gold, U10 silver and U10 bronze.
This was the most serious chess tournament I had ever done. We played with a chess clock and with 60 min playing time per player per game, 7 games in total.
I started the Saturday unfocussed and lost my first two games. When I started to concentrate, I promptly won the next two games and was quite happy with my 2:2 by Saturday evening. The Sunday was a better day for me, I started strong with another win, followed by a loss. The last game of the tournament was crucial.
I had a strange character as opponent. When he started to lose pieces, he demanded to take time off to go to the toilet. In the end game, he had lost all his pieces but three pawns that I could easily control/stop with my pawns, but I still had a rook. Therefore, I started the moves to checkmate his king with my rook and king. My opponent wanted to go to the toilet again! When he came back, he fussed about that the moves were written up incorrectly. Mind you, he had written up the moves, so he was really complaining about his own write up! Finally, when his king was on the second but last rank, he offered me a draw. When I refused, he called the arbiter and wanted the 50-moves-draw to take effect. What a cheat! Happy I don't have to be friends with him! Anyway, two moves later I checkmated him. My 4:3 in the 7 games won me the trophy and the title
Bronze place Lippische Schach Jugend Einzelmeisterschaft U10 in 2016/17
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| Early on in the game, see the chess clock in the background. |
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| As there are less pieces in the game, it gets easier to "think". |
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| Hours of concentration. |
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| Hmmm, this is getting interesting... |
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| Part of the room. Jonas two tables further back. |
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| Bronze U10!! |
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