Two teams of our students had a wonderful time at the World Amateur Team Championships over Presidents Day weekend in Parsippany, New Jersey. Unlike events like the scholastic championships, this event is a fixed team tournament, meaning that the four players on one team sit together to play the four players of the opposing team.
Cooper Middle School, consisting of players who had been in our Spring Hill Elementary club and half of them now in the Theophilus Thompson Club on Sundays, won the award for the top middle school in the competition. Spring Hill Elementary tied for first place among elementary schools but lost out on tie-breaks for the championship plaque this year. (Spring Hill took clear first place last year.)
Every student returned talking about making plans to return to event next year. Leo, of Spring Hill, notched his first score against a National Master, a source of great pride. Emily, a Spring Hill fourth grader, gushed about how much fun it was to beat adults.
Bryan, from Cooper, liked being seated with his teammates, so that he could watch his friends play without having to look for them in a huge tournament hall. With about 1,500 players in the championships, the event could have been overwhelming for the young players, but because they were seated with their teams, everyone was comfortable throughout. The players also enjoyed the unique aspects of this event, such as playing teams that were all female, or all senior citizens, or other teams of students from other parts of the country. Some teams came in costume, and many had interesting names.
The fixed team format provides additional benefits. Nobody feels bad at the end of a game. When a player wins and the team wins, the player is happy. When a player loses but the team wins, the player is happy. When a player wins but the team loses, the player is happy. When a player loses and the team loses, the player knows that the whole team is the same boat, and the player is happy. Fixed team events are great for promoting the best of chess, and we are glad that our teams participated.
