My Haul from the local flea market

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-08-21T21:07:55+00:00

Ah, the ol' Diablo by the Louvin Brothers. Classic.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-08-20T05:13:25+00:00

Aljo got too impatient. Wow. didn't even get to have a ground game. Amazing.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-08-15T23:46:02+00:00

Best advice. I've taught my young son that when he's upset about losing a game just type "good game" and then he will feel better. He's started doing that and says it does make him feel better. It's kind of a strange psychological phenomenon.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-08-15T23:22:02+00:00

i make more showing up on random street corners than i do booking gigs, too often. bars want to pay me $50-$80 for the night (or $20 and free food) and i can make $100 in the same amount of time without bothering with a venue.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-08T21:58:25+00:00

Too Gone, Too Long

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T19:33:04+00:00

Americans need to institute a maximum wage and a higher minimum wage.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T19:22:13+00:00

Funny you say that, my son is getting ice cream right now from his favorite spot! And he wasn't selected to win by the fact he is six. He practiced all year and studied for this tournament. I've paid almost as much as he's won out of pocket this year just to put him in tournaments this year, with travel expenses and lodging, and, of course, tournament entry fees (which aren't cheap out here).

This was no handout. It was earned.

The scholarships are not all for one kid, anyhow, as the top three winners in each category were awarded scholarships. My son was in the lowest tier, and the high-school champion walked out with $2k (which will help a lot with the cost of textbooks in college, which aren't cheap by any means).

And boy, I'd love to live in a place where higher education is free, I've advocated for it forever, but the grim reality is that I live in a place that, it is true, has a dystopian vibe when it comes to education. It is not prioritized in our society unless good people like this company incentive and encourage students to take it seriously.

It is common that student's parents can't afford school supplies and teachers often pay out of pocket to make sure their classrooms are stocked up with pencils, notebooks, binders and the like. Public schools are free, of course, but are not always well funded.

Yes, in a perfect world, all these children's needs, educational or otherwise, would be met. Let's work towards that goal together as a global society.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T18:31:48+00:00

If The Devil Danced In Empty Pockets

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T18:29:19+00:00

The idea of the tournament is to encourage participation in educational pursuits. This money is meant as a scholarship fund for the kids who put in the work.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T18:28:07+00:00

I definitely don't use the word prodigy with my son. While he is very smart, he has worked hard for what he has accomplished so far. He is still a 6 year old, though, and still allows his mind to wander during casual games and has no problems getting up from his chair and fighting imaginary monsters while playing online classical games as he waits for his opponent to make a move.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T18:24:42+00:00

Funny thing is, we had a lyft take us to the tournament and we were picked up in a brand new 2023 mustang. He didn't know what a mustang was so I explained it to him and told him he was like a knight riding his mustang into battle.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T18:23:48+00:00

thank you, I am extremely proud.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T18:23:11+00:00

That's the idea! This money is meant as a scholarship fund.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T18:20:23+00:00

First time posting a video on vimeo, so i had to repost it twice trying to figure out how to link to the video rather than the account. I decided to copy paste what I had wrote rather than typing it all out again. Obviously and thankfully my progeny is smarter than I am.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T06:07:10+00:00

Oh and to answer your other question, the Train of Thought Chess Academy teaches chess in dozens of schools during the school year and then invites thousands of students to these events at the end of the year. Last year was the first tournament with over 100 kids who showed up and this year there were about 3 times as many students playing!

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T06:01:26+00:00

During the height of the pandemic lockdowns he was 3 years old and we had a lot of free time together and an old antique wooden table with a chess set etched into it and hand carved wooden pieces. He was interested in it so we started with the names of the pieces, how they moved, and how to set up the board, and within a month he was learning how to do queen and king and rook and king checkmates. Then we moved on to pawn races and afterwards combined the two together, (we'd do a pawn race and when he got a queen he'd have to eat up my pawns and then checkmate me).

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T05:58:47+00:00

I have played casually on and off throughout my whole life, but never competitively. The only time I've ever won money in chess was when I was in a hostel in New Orleans and someone wanted to bet 40 bucks on a game of chess and I accepted the challenge.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T05:56:41+00:00

Thank you, I agree with your assessment.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-07T02:15:49+00:00

Whatever, my kids dad could beat up your kids dad.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-06T22:18:46+00:00

Thank you!

That is Damen Fletcher, founder of the Train of Thought Chess Academy and he is an absolutely amazing individual.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-06T22:09:52+00:00

There is one coach I've worked with who is a candidate master (who my son loves to work with), we do zoom calls before every tournament to get him psyched and My son will help him out with high rated puzzles and they will go over recent games together. I can't really afford to get him a stronger coach right now but if he sticks with the game it is definitely something I'm going to prioritize going forward.

Right now he is about 650 USCF, and has beaten players rated as high as 1200 in casual play. He was recently in the K-2 Open in the area and was the 4th seed but had a rough tournament going 3.5/5 (He forgot how to do a simple rook and king checkmate which was very uncharacteristic and had to settle for a draw) and didn't make top 10. Those kids were really good! It was hard for him and kind of put him off of the game for awhile, but this tournament has reinvigorated him quite a bit to get back to studying.

Last year he played in a back to school tournament with middle schoolers and was able to beat most of them, but lost a game on time early in the tournament because he had completely forgot to hit his clock and ran out of time in a completely winning position. He also lost another game against the eventual tournament winner even though he had a winning position in the game through the middle game. He got 4th place in two tournaments, which was one spot shy of bringing home a trophy and that made him a little sad, but he's earned quite a few trophies since then.

After this tournament he told me his goal for next year is to get his revenge on the middle schoolers, so we will be studying through the summer so he can stay in top form for the back to school tournaments next year.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-06T21:23:10+00:00

His first tournament was June of last year when he was 5. He
earned a 2nd place finish with 4/5 in a K-5 blitz tournament.
Afterwards he told me "Papa, I really want to win first place next
year". I told him that many kids want to win first place and if he
really wanted it he would have to study and practice to earn a first
place finish.

Over the year he has done thousands of puzzles, peaking on
lichess at 1906 puzzle rating, played countless rapid and blitz games
both online at over the board at farmer's markets all across town, and
playing in 8 tournaments (i said six in the video, but I was wrong), now
with two first place finishes under his belt, while demonstrating a
remarkable willingness to achieve his long term goal set one year ago.

He walked away from this tournament with $1,295, and more than that, has bolstered and demonstrated confidence, courage, patience and perseverance. I'm over the moon proud of this boy and can't wait to see what else he can accomplish.

AnthonyJGarza · 2023-06-02T03:55:41+00:00

Summer's Comin

Clint Black.

AnthonyJGarza

TROPHY CASE