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TWOMore than Playing Around

STUDYING COMPETITIVE CHILDHOODS

“Do you want to play?”

I always dreaded that question. Not because I didn’t want to play, but because I didn’t really know how. I am a chess neophyte and a failed soccer player. There was simply no way I could keep up with the pint-size players I was studying—even though I tried, much to their delight.

During six to nine months of intensive observation of chess, then soccer, and finally dance, I learned how these activities and their competitions are organized, who is in charge, and why they are ordered the way that they are in the present day. I spent the better part of evenings and weekends over sixteen months on soccer fields, in dance studios and hotel ballrooms, and in school buildings and other spaces where chess is played. I talked informally with participants, attended tournaments, and often carved out a social role for myself (usually as an informal assistant to a teacher or coach). I then conducted 172 semistructured interviews with parents, coaches, and children in their homes or places of work or at a coffee shop, a library, or other public space.

While I never became an expert chess player, dancer, or soccer player—and, sadly, never will—I did become an expert on the organization of these worlds. For each activity I had two field sites, one urban and one suburban, in the greater metropolitan area of a major northeastern city in the United States.¹ Within each urban and suburban setting I had a field site for each activity in order to maximize comparability, so I had a total of six field sites across the three activities.

All of the urban settings are in the area I call “Metro,” and the suburban settings are in “West County.” The Metro location is extremely diverse, in terms of both income and race/ethnicity, while West County is far more homogeneous. West County contains several affluent suburbs with a mainly educated populace dominated by white and Asian families. There is economic diversity within the county, but the towns where I spent most of my time are the most affluent in the county.

Because I knew the least about chess when I began, I started there. I then moved onto soccer, which I once tried to play in grade school. (The fact that I played in skorts instead of shorts likely tells you all you need to know about my abilities on the field.) I closed my research with dance, as this was the activity I knew the most about, having attended dance competitions as a child—though as a spectator and not as a participant. I myself have never competed in a chess tournament, a soccer tournament, or a dance competition.

I learned about these activities from the ground up, and this chapter is a pocket guide on how each of them works. I have highlighted certain practices within each activity that are relevant to understanding various aspects of Competitive Kid Capital formation that I discuss in the next chapters. In the appendix I detail how I selected field sites and those I interviewed, how I presented myself in the field, and some of the unique methodological challenges this research presented (particularly as it relates to research with kids). If you already know how any of these competitive activities function, you may prefer to skip that activity’s section and simply read about the organizations I worked with. For each of the three activities I begin with an overview of the competitive landscape and then describe the six field sites: Metro and West County Chess, Metro Soccer Co-op and Westfield Soccer Club, and Metroville Elite Dance Academy and Westbrook Let’s Dance Studio.

SCHOLASTIC CHESS : THE GAME OF KINGS

Chess is an inherently competitive event. It pits one player in a contest against another, and it almost always produces a winner and a loser. The world of children’s competitive chess, usually known as scholastic chess (though this does not mean that the chess is tied to the formal school system; it merely refers to the age of the participants), magnifies the intensity of this inherent rivalry and formalizes it into rankings and ratings at regional and national tournaments. The United States Chess Federation (USCF) plays a large part in creating and monitoring the competition in scholastic chess.

The USCF regulates scholastic tournaments.² Parents discover these tournaments through chess teachers, other parents, online, or from the most important grapevine: their own children, who come home from school and excitedly report on an upcoming event they heard about from friends or teachers. The USCF itself hosts annual national scholastic tournaments and certifies individuals to run tournaments around the country. A certified tournament director must oversee a tournament in order for it to be recognized as a USCF event.

In many ways, “scholastics” are at the heart of the USCF. Roughly thirty thousand participants under the age of fifteen make up the largest component of USCF membership.³ In order to be rated in USCF tournaments, children must become USCF members and pay a small annual fee; during my fieldwork the charge for those twelve and under was $17. Enrollment brings a subscription to the bimonthly publication, Chess Life for Kids! This publication, which averages about twenty glossy pages, colorfully spotlights national tournaments, chess puzzles, and major winners (both kids and adults).⁴

Children who are not USCF members can play in some local tournaments, but they cannot earn a chess rating. These children are usually beginners, in kindergarten or first grade. Thus the total number of children playing tournament chess exceeds thirty thousand.

The USCF is more than a tournament planner and publisher. By issuing chess ratings, the USCF is the ultimate arbiter of quality in the world of scholastic chess. Ratings range from 100 to 2,800 and are calculated using a complicated mathematical rating formula that assigns each player a number based on past performance; the higher the number, the stronger the player.⁵ In his guide for parents, chess coach Dan Heisman succinctly describes ratings: “Suffice it to say that when one wins, his rating goes up, and when one loses, his rating goes down. The higher the rating of the opponent beaten, the more it goes up; the lower the rating of the opponent lost to, the more it goes down.”⁶

Tournament opponents are decided based upon a player’s rating.⁷ Pairings are announced before each round via wall charts, which are essentially pieces of paper taped to the wall or to poster boards. Children and parents crowd around these sheets of paper before preparing for the next round and quickly retreat to their own corners to discuss the implications of the match-ups. Wall charts announce each player’s name, rating, and school and who will play with the black and white pieces in the round. The wall charts are divided by section. Sections separate children by age and ability. For example, there may be a K–3 section, and then separate sections for those with ratings under 1,000 and those over 1,000. (There may even be a K–3 under 1,000 section and a K–3 over 1,000 section.)

In later rounds wall charts also reveal the tournament standings. The child with the highest point total at the end of the tournament wins. A win equals 1 point, a loss 0, and a draw or a bye is worth .5.⁸ Ties are decided using software programs that judge how hard opponents were based on participants’ relative ratings, and reward those who bested more difficult challengers.

The USCF publishes ratings every three months. But once tournament results are reported, children and their parents can log on to the organization’s website and see the updated rating, usually within a few days after a tournament. All tournament results are publicly available online. You can use the USCF’s website to search for a specific child’s name and to see the results from every USCF tournament he or she has ever played in.

Besides being public, the system is completely hierarchical; there is nowhere to hide for children falling down the rating scale. Yet the system is open to manipulation, and parents who are in the know are aware of the ways they can stack the deck to advantage their child. Ratings used to determine opponents at tournaments lag behind actual competitions. Only the quarterly published ratings are used to structure tournament pairings. If a player has earned many rating points in the past few months, he or she is still officially rated lower because of the time gap and hence can play in lower-rated sections against weaker players he or she can easily beat. Some parents deliberately avoid letting their kids play right before a new published rating so they can “save” or “protect” a lower rating for an upcoming event.

When ratings are published, the USCF releases its Top 100 lists of players by age, starting with those seven and under and then on to eight-year-olds, nine-year-olds, and so on. The USCF also awards chess titles, such as Master, to players based on their ratings. (Titles come into play once an individual goes over 2,000 rating points.)⁹ Children who routinely top these lists and earn titles can make the All-America Chess team and represent the United States in international scholastic events, but these are truly the exceptional children.

Separate lists and titles for the highest rated girls are also released by USCF. Chess is dominated by boys, starting at the youngest ages, with greater numbers of boys entering the game at the lowest levels.¹⁰ Special attention is paid to girls, especially those who are talented, to get them to stick with chess as they get older; hence the separate lists for top-performing females.

The cost to participate in tournaments in order to earn rating points and titles is fairly low, and some major cities have organizations that host free tournaments. Entry fees range from $30 to $50 for local tournaments and up to $80 for state and national tournaments. On average, children I met play in one tournament a month during the school year. These contests are usually in a school cafeteria or a gym, if they are local events, and in a hotel ballroom or a conference center, if they are regional or national.

Children do not need any special equipment to participate in a tournament. The tournament itself almost always supplies chessboards and pieces. Children often are expected to bring their own paper and pencil so that they can annotate their games,¹¹ but some tournaments even provide these.

Most competitive children have a chess notebook in which they record their games sequentially so they can be dissected and studied after a tournament. Hardcover notebooks that hold annotations from one hundred games can be purchased for around $8, and spiral notebooks that hold fifty games cost around $3. Even though it is not necessary, children usually bring a chess set to tournaments so they can play and analyze between rounds. Supplies like these are often purchased at chess tournaments, where organizers set up a small store with other chess-related gear and books and software. Similar items are also available for purchase online. Kids often keep all of their chess supplies together in a chess bag, which can be bought for around $25.

A chess clock is an important additional piece of equipment because scholastic chess games are timed. In local tournaments the time control is usually “G30,” or thirty minutes for each player, for a maximum of sixty minutes per game. After each move a child hits a button on the chess clock, which reveals the time he or she has remaining, and then records the move in his or her chess notebook. There are a variety of chess clocks available, some digital and some analog. Digital clocks cost more, but a chess clock can be purchased for as little as $30 (though the more expensive ones, often endorsed by chess stars like Gary Kasparov, cost upward of $200). The player who has the black pieces in a tournament game gets to use his or her own clock. Players who do not have a clock can use their opponent’s.

There is some debate in the chess world about the “proper” length of time for children’s games. A G30 game is considered short,¹² but it is preferred at one-day tournaments, mainly because parents do not want to spend twelve hours (or longer) indoors on a weekend. State and national tournaments, held over two to three days, have longer time controls, often G90. Some believe longer games promote deeper chess thinking and calculation, but other demands on family members’ time usually prevail and G30 games are most common.

In order to prepare for tournaments and develop strategies for games of different length, many children take private chess lessons. These sometimes occur in small groups, but most often they are one-on-one and take place in the home. Private lessons via the Internet are growing in popularity as well.¹³

Parents find private coaches mainly through word of mouth, either through other parents or through the chess teacher at school. Lessons typically last one hour and can cost between $50 and $150, depending on the reputation of the teacher and the level of the student. Formal certification for chess teachers and coaches has not developed, and since it can be difficult to locate a great coach, parents are often left with Internet instruction as the option. But families usually prefer a personal and in-person connection, and they cultivate relationships with coaches with whom they share goals for the child—and a price point. The bonds between family and coach can become very strong. When the demands of competition require that children leave one mentor for another, bitter feelings may result, especially when a coach feels the new coach “stole” his or her student.

Summer and holiday chess camps provide another venue for intensive instruction. These camps are generally run by those who give private lessons and run their own chess tournaments, creating a one-stop-shopping chess experience. A day at a chess camp usually costs between $80 and $100. Camps are held at schools (though in theory they are open to children from any school), private clubs, or semipublic community spaces such as those owned by religious organizations.

Camps and lessons increase in frequency before major tournaments, such as the state and national championships. Anyone can compete in state events, regardless of where they live, but if the winner is not from that state, the next highest finisher from that state is declared state champion. The Nationals are run by the USCF, though there are actually two held for elementary school–age kids, one in December and one in May.¹⁴ The December Nationals are “grade” Nationals, known as The National Scholastic K–12/Collegiate Championship, meaning participants only play opponents from their own scholastic grade level, regardless of rating. In this way there is a national first-grade champion, a national second-grade champion, and so on, up through twelfth grade (regardless of chronological age, so children who are old or young for their grade still compete against grade peers). The May Nationals, called the National Burt Lerner Elementary (K–6) Championship,¹⁵ is based on both grade and rating. There are K–1, K–3, and K–5 designations, and within those designations there are separate sections for those whose ratings are under a certain level (for example, 1,000).

This means that there are many different trophies awarded—a huge focus of all chess tournaments. The top ten or twenty finishers in each section receive trophies, and there are special trophies awarded within sections, such as the best performance for players with a rating under 500. Almost everyone leaves a local chess tournament with a trophy or a ribbon or medal, though they vary significantly in size. Trophies for winners at Nationals are often bigger than the players themselves. Some local tournaments also award participation trophies to all the kids, though these are usually only for the youngest children. In certain sections all entrants might receive a medal, but those typically are phased out by middle school.

The local-state-national structure of scholastic chess implies that there is a progression upward and that players need to qualify to play in the Nationals. Not so. There are absolutely no qualifications to play at the national scholastic tournaments. If someone pays the entry fee, a child can play in the event. Sometimes even unrated players compete in Nationals.

Many schools do not have chess teams. In that case a child may represent his or her school, and the school may not even know. In most schools that have chess teams anyone can join. At a tournament the team in scholastic chess is usually the three or four top-scoring children from the same school in each section (though the school may have brought twenty children). Homeschooled children are able to participate based on their current age, and many do, but they are not able to compete for team prizes.

When children attend tournaments as a school team they benefit from companionship and also from having a team room. This is a rented conference room or hotel suite that parents pay for, or which the school covers, where everyone gets together to go over games. Often schools hire team coaches who stay in the team rooms during the tournament to analyze games and give the children pep talks between rounds. Such schools also often have the children wear team T-shirts, which helps build camaraderie.

While some schools go so far as to order food for families to eat in their private rooms, less advantaged schools do not have the funds to rent their own rooms. These teams and their families use spaces provided by tournament organizers, known as “skittles rooms.” Skittling is a chess term for analyzing a game to look for areas of improvement, whether a child won or lost.

Parents and children involved with scholastic chess quickly learn about skittling and become conversant in speaking the language of ratings, reading wall charts, and annotating games. The 1984 book Searching for Bobby Fisher and the 1993 film of the same name still accurately portray the contemporary world of scholastic chess.¹⁶ But the book and movie do not explain how the competition actually works. Private lessons, the rating system, and tournament structure and pairings are all integral to understanding how the highly organized world of kids’ competitive chess is structured. Parents must get involved and learn about these practices if their child is to thrive in scholastic chess, as many of the Metro and West County chess parents have done.

Metro Chess and West County Chess

In general, chess attracts a diverse group of participants. This is largely attributable to the low basic costs of equipment and participation. There are also many opportunities to play in free tournaments, especially in areas like Metro. Metro is one of the historic centers of chess in the United States, and it is one of the hotspots for scholastic chess.¹⁷ Many public and private schools in Metro offer curriculum chess on top of extracurricular opportunities.¹⁸

The scholastic chess scene in Metro is a small and connected, but divided, world. Coaches jealousy guard their turf, both schools and students, particularly in the more affluent pockets of the city. There are many organizations and teachers who try to control the scholastic chess scene. Outside of the affluent schools different coaches and teachers dominate. I worked with two organizations in order to meet children and parents associated with Metro Chess: Uptown-Metro Chess and Charter-Metro Chess.

I met parents in Uptown-Metro Chess through a for-profit organization that offers curriculum chess classes, after-school classes, camps, tournaments, private lessons, and chess supplies. At that time the organization was based in four schools, a mix of public and private. Through camps and tournaments children from other schools are also part of this organization, and these events are held in a church basement and in school cafeterias and gyms.

Uptown-Metro Chess teaches several children who routinely appear on the Top 100 lists and have won national championships, but the majority of the children who play in their tournaments and attend their classes and workshops do not have exceptionally high ratings. Boys far out-number girls here, but several girls are top performers. Families that can pay enroll their children in classes, private lessons, and tournaments. Many of these families go to city and state tournaments, and a substantial number attend at least one national event a year. Both mothers and fathers are involved with their children.

Charter-Metro Chess is quite different. Instead of being for-profit it is part of a nonprofit dedicated to bringing after-school programs to underprivileged children. The chess program is a highlight, as many of the children in the program have been very successful. During the school year classes are offered on Saturday mornings to children in the community; during the summer a half-day chess camp is also available. The camp is especially popular, as it is free. Parents push their children to continue with chess during the school year because they know that if the children do well, they may be selected to travel to attend tournaments—again, for free. Both the summer camp and the classes take place in schools, the former in a public elementary school and the latter in a nearby charter school for middle school and high school students, though the program focuses on elementary school–age children. Free snacks and lunches are part of the chess day.

All Charter-Metro chess children are welcome to attend free tournaments around the Metro area. Top-performing children are also invited (or they qualify at an internal tournament) to attend local tournaments that require an entry fee. The best players are invited to travel to attend the Nationals. This is a much smaller group since travel expenses for the children are covered by the organization. Girls are the top performers in Charter-Metro chess, and the number of girls and boys involved is far more equal than in Uptown-Metro Chess.

Charter-Metro parents do not often attend tournaments with the children; instead the chess teachers take kids to the events. For local tournaments, they meet up on weekend mornings at the school and take the subway together. Often the teacher has to take a child home after the tournament when the parent does not show up. Because Charter-Metro Chess parents are often not present, they are not well represented in my data. But through fieldwork at Charter-Metro events, including attending their summer camp, weekly weekend lessons, and tournaments with their group, I was able to study this part of the scholastic chess world.