Two Spokane trips, six years apart
2015
On Saturday, April 25, 2015, Washington State Elementary School Chess Championships were held in the Convention Center in Spokane, WA. We arrived on the eve of the event and met the US Chess Champion Irina Krush, who won this title at age 14 in 1998, and many times since then. We had a photo-crush on Krush:
Naomi played in the 6th Grade section, as part of her Odle Middle School chess team. She was mentioned in the opening remarks as the girl who won first place in this championship 6 years ago in the Kindergarten section.
The accelerated pairing by the organizers meant that the highest-rated Naomi got stronger opponents than she would usually get under the regular Swiss system, and had to play harder games, while other good players got weaker opponents and easier games. Also, Naomi was tired after winning the US National Girls Champion title just a few days before in Chicago. And she hasn't played short games in a while.
Maybe because of all this strain, Naomi drew a game with the boy in the photo below, and got 4.5 points out of 5. Another boy got 5 out of 5 (as usually happens in such large tournaments) and took first place in the 6th Grade section -- congratulations to him. Naomi shared second and third place with Freya.
And, Naomi's Odle Middle School chess team took first place in the state, by overall team points. Good job!
Here is our Trip to Spokane photo story automatically built by Google+ from my smartphone backup photos:
2015-04-24..25 Trip to Spokane for Washington State K-6 Chess Championships
2009
On April 24-26, 2009 all four of us traveled for the first time to Spokane, WA for the Washington State Elementary Chess Championships. Ethan played in the 5th Grade section, and Naomi played in the Kindergarten section. We stayed at the Travelodge Spokane hotel right next to the Convention Center.
We remember being overwhelmed by the size of the event and the amount of players and parents. Many thousands of people roamed the halls and the corridors. We tried to balance between the need to be near the kids and the desire to explore the nearby Spokane Riverfront Park, which 35 years ago hosted Expo '74.
Both Ethan and Naomi won first places and champion titles in their respective age categories, 5th Grade and Kindergarten. Both of them got perfect scores, winning all 5 of their 5 games.
The most memorable feeling was the sudden reversal of perspective. From being just some insignificant one thousandth part of the whole chess event we suddenly became its focal point, twice over. Uniquely, we now had two state champions in the family! Both our kids both brought champion trophies to the school on Monday.
Here is our 2009 trip to Spokane photo album:
2009_04_24..26 Spokane WA State Elementary Chess Championships
Ethan and Naomi both got first place in their sections
The Fame
The next morning we woke up in the Travelodge Spokane hotel and leisurely rolled our suitcases to the front desk for checking out. On the front desk, we've noticed a pile of The Spokesman Review local newspaper. The front page prominently featured both Naomi and Ethan.
Jody Lawrence-Turner interviewed Naomi and a few other kids during the championships, and then wrote a remarkable piece about the event. Quote from her article: 'Asked why she likes the game, Naomi said: “I like to win trophies and dollars.”' -- alluding to the example set by her big brother Ethan, who's 5 years older.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/apr/26/youngsters-focus-belies-their-age/
Unfortunately, in the printed newspaper version, the list of winners in the beginning incorrectly named the 5th grade 1st place winner as Samuel Meisner rather than the actual winner, Ethan. We emailed Jody and she quickly corrected the online version of the article.
"Garrett Casey is a killer"
Naomi's last game opponent was Garrett Casey, a young local chess prodigy understandably cheered by the Spokane press. On May 14, 2009, another local newspaper, The Inlander, printed a story named "Child’s Gambit" about the championship. It started with the phrase, quote: "Garrett Casey is a killer", then proceeded to inflate his opponent and ultimate nemesis, quote: "machine-precise Naomi Bashkansky", who is, quote: "a remarkably seasoned player".
Fearsome western invaders are preying upon the peaceful easterners domain, quote: "The seat of chess power in Washington resides on the west side — the area around Bellevue and Redmond, specifically. People have heard about the dominance of players from the area, speaking in awed tones about the ruthless children of Microsoft employees."
The dramatic battle of the tiny chess titans has been described in decidedly Homeric tones, until the climactic end of Naomi's game, quote: "She hovers over the square that will checkmate him", then, quote: "takes her championship and Garrett Casey becomes a little boy again". We wiped away very real tears while reading this inlander Greek tragedy. Such a cruel crush by the ruthless coastal aggressor riding her pair of black Trojan horses: ♞♞
http://www.inlander.com/spokane/childs-gambit/Content?oid=2131440
In May 2010, this Iliad-envy epic by Luke Baumgarten won first place in the Lifestyles category when Region 10 of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded its prizes for work published in 2009 in a competition of publications in Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. Well, after this Iliad, we are waiting for the Odyssey...
And of course, Garrett Casey is a great chess player. He took first place next year (2010) in the Kindergarten section. And then, after a long lull, took first place in the 5th Grade section this year (2015). Atta boy!
Ethan and Naomi: greedy ruthless machine-precise trophy-grabbers
Take a look at that first trip's photo album:
2009_04_24..26 Spokane WA State Elementary Chess Championships
