After a pause in Puddletown tournaments due to our busy summer schedules, we were finally back for another in-person event today. 65 players joined us at Village Church to battle it out in their respective sections. We had many new players this time: shoutout to Stellan B., Elliot S., Bryan W.,…
How odd, I thought, scrolling past this year's US Girls Junior Championship player list. Many of the familiar names I had seen on television over and over again in the past were absent this year. Instead, I saw more young friends, attending this prestigious event for the first time. Last year,…
My first impressions of chess tournaments were their size. Rows upon rows of long tables, filled with checkered boards and tall (or so they seemed to me at the time) people on either side of them; gigantic rooms and hallways dedicated entirely to chess. Gradually, though, as I played in more…