CHESS

The boys have been doing chess as one of their after school activities for a while now. I haven't had much visibility as to how they have been doing, although I do know that Quinn in particular has an aptitude for it. Griff has also seemed to enjoy it, but up to now hasn't seemed that taken with it, so I thought he was just kind of going along for the ride (literally - as in waiting for his lift home with Quinn and his friend after chess practice) :)

Anyway, last month they came home telling me about a chess tournament, and they asked me to enter them. So I duly registered them and paid up, and woke up bright and early on a Saturday to make the great trek to Bellville to get them there by 8am.

I was not able to stay there with them so left them there for the day. I lifted 5 kids there and another mom brought them all home. It was an ENTIRE day from 8am to 7pm. Honestly I was a bit dubious as to how it was going to go. Would they sustain focus enough to play chess for that long, and would they actually enjoy it!??

Well as it turns out they  LOVED it and were so amped when they came home.

Quinn won 2, lost 2 and drew 3 of his games. He came 29/61 entered in the C division (noting that a few entered and didn't actually play)

Griffin won 2 and lost the rest (I think). Still the fact that he won the first 2 was amazing as he hasn't played much at all, and wasn't expecting to win at all. He came 48/61 entered in the C division (noting that a few entered and didn't actually play)

I was really impressed cos it's a heck of a long day for them, but it seems like they really enjoyed it a lot. I MUST get them a proper chess set. We only have a tiny magnetic board with 2-3 pieces missing...

There is another tournament (at the same place) this Saturday and they have again asked me to enter them, so I have.

This is a photo of Quinn playing at the Paarl Gym exchange last week.

Their school team has 10 players and he is on the team on the 7th board. Griff may get a spot on the team soon too. :)