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Post being replied to

Chess tournament for little kids a couple weeks ago by DukeSinatra

The oldest kids were 8 or 9, none are prodigies though some are very solid players. This was purely for fun, no official ratings points were involved.

I was serving as an official. A dad sat right to his son as the kid played (not allowed, but at something as low stakes as this, I didn't care). The dad scoffed at several moves his son made...I probably should have said something but didn't.

The son lost and when the game was over the dad immediately said, disgustedly, "That was terrible. You should have beat this kid 10 moves ago."

Both kids looked like they felt horrible. I should have said something but, in the moment, I froze.

What I did do was have the guy in charge of the tournament announce a reminder that parents should sit in the gallery/audience area, not next to the players. And I watched a few more games the son played and made sure to really compliment him on his play.

Wish I would have somehow handled this better.