I was Chief TD at the Georgia Junior Invitational this past weekend (2 sections, HS and K-8). Working with kids often brings out the unexpected/remarkable. In the K-8 section, black was down a rook in the last round, but fought valiantly with a king, queen and pawns versus a king, queen, rook and pawns. So much so that after much maneuvering, white inadvertently made a quiet move, losing tempo and allowing the black king to come down and check the white king on the 2nd rank with a forced draw by repetition in the offing. Any coach watching grimaced with chagrin as white allowed for a drawn position, being a full rook up [like I did recently when, after getting up to answer the phone and leaving my piping hot dinner en prise, the dog ate it within the 5 second delay it took for me to realize what had happened]. Then, the unexpected/remarkable happened: After pondering the position, black, out of nowhere, stopped the clock and extended his hand, resigning. Everyone looked on in sheer astonishment. I was perhaps the first to say out loud: "What? You had a forced draw!" "I know," he replied confidently. "I do not feel I deserved it.," muttering inaudibly about something that had happened earlier in the game. I guess it was why he felt that way, possibly what it was that caused him to be a rook down in the first place, yielding a sure lost position to a player who hadn't lost a game. Was it good sportsmanship, honor, a coach's nightmare,
the vagaries of youth, or just a plain "??" (terrible) move? That's for you to decide. For his visibly stunned opponent, he went on to a 4.0 score (3 wins, 2 draws) out of 5, in a 3 way tie for first place, 3rd place on tie breaks (a 4th grader). It came down to the last game of the last round in each section before a winner was determined and there were many good games and exciting finishes throughout the weekend.