Hi folks. I am coming to you from the Michigan Chess Association's youth tournament at the MSU Union. It's an all day affair and it will probably go until late afternoon.
I've become sort of an old pro with these all day tourneys, as I've been through several of them and know what to expect from the parents' perspective: bring lots of toys to occupy you throughout the day, which in my case means a good book, my Nook, my writing journal (which zI have neglected for far too long) and my phone. My son has his laptop and phone. As you can see, we're not hurting for electronic toys to keep us busy during the down time between matches (and to keep me busy in the quiet time when the kids are upstairs playing their matches).
The way these tournaments work is as follows: all of the kids and parents establish a "base camp" in the basement of the Union. Each community has a designated area of the basement to camp out. I was thrown off this morning because the area ordinarily occupied by Okemos had been switched to the contingent from Ann Arbor. We found our Okemos peeps and had to scramble to find two chairs.
Down time at the chess tournament is a chirping, beeping cacophany of kids playing computer games, wrestling with each other on the floor, and a few practicing chess moves. Parents are generally plugged into their laptops or amiably chatting with one another. The quiet respite comes when the kids finally receive their pairings and go upstairs to play their matches.
We are approaching round two, my eyes are getting fried from typing on this tiny zNook screen, so I am gonna take a break for now.
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