D4...D5. The players were tense as 25 silent battles started throughout the room. On board one a Northern Californian was battling a Georgian in the first round of a 6 round tournament. On board 22 I waited...

I'm Zachary Holecek, and I represented Illinois at the first "Dewain Barber" K-8 National Invitational in Orlando. The tournament was held at the Hyatt which connects to the airport and where the U.S Open, and the high school Denker were being held simultaneously.

Opening ceremonies started at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon. Most of the talks were about college chess, high school chess, scholarships and other subjects for the Denker players. After an hour of these speeches, Mr.Barber handed out participation medallions to all of the players.

In case you didn't know, the new Barber tournament is where each state sends a K-8 representative to play in the tournament, so when Illinois was called, Trevor Magness (the Denker representative) and I went up to receive our participation medallions. They also handed out sheets for a contest where if you answer all the questions correctly you were eligible for a $25 prize. After the medals were awarded, we took a group picture of all the Barber participants.

The first round was at 7pm, so I spent my time before answering the contest sheet and studying openings. My pairings was Zachary Redwine, a 1000 rated player representing Alaska. When I got to the board, I put the Illinois state flag (which they give to you) on the stand next to my board. My opponent had not showed up. Once the round started, he had still not showed up. After waiting an hour, I won by forfeit. I went swimming and then to bed.

I woke up late, because the next round started at noon. My pairing was black against Grant Xu, a 2200 representing Massachusetts. You can see the game at monroi.com, a pretty interesting game. A draw gave me a score of 1.5/2.

Next I went swimming and got prepared for the next game against Sean Vibbert, a 2250 (third seed) who was representing Indiana. You can see that game at monroi.com also. A tough draw, a clever tactic in the endgame saved me from a loss.

I then got ice cream with my Dad and got a good nights sleep. My pairing the next day was against Kushan Tyagi, a 2050 who was representing Iowa. You can see that game at monroi.com too. Another hard fought draw. Kushan was besting me in the opening and middle game, but couldn't find a win in the endgame.

My final game on Saturday was white against Andrew Tang, a 2100 representing Minnesota. That game isn't on monroi. it was drawn. Still undefeated!

I know, a lot of draws. A win in the last game would give me in a tie for 4th place, but I lost to Matthew Fishbein, a 1970 from Maine.

The closing ceremonies started at 3pm. They gave the Denker winner a scholarship to the University of Texas-Dallas. Then they announced the winner of the Barber section, and gave all the other participants $100 checks. I got 20th place. Overall, I really enjoyed the Barber tournament of K-8 champions and hope future participants will too.