Barber National Tournament of Middle School State Champions

By Dewain Barber

July 12, 2014

Greg Chamitoff, the chess playing astronaut, has the record for the highest altitude chess game in the world (http://www.chess.com/news/earth-versus-the-astronaut). I reflected on his accomplishment against a formidable opponent: Stevenson Elementary School, Bellevue, WA, as I departed from Perth, Australia headed to Sydney. When you cross Australia from west to east, it is like going from Los Angeles to New York.

 Sitting next to me was a young man, Daryl Huynh, who I learned was an engineer headed back home which was near Sydney in New South Wales.

He was working on a project involving a bionic eye that produced too much heat. My vision could certainly use a bionic eye, but I decided not to volunteer for that experimental surgery.
I then mentioned that I was returning home from an ocean cruise that took my wife, Sue, and I from Brisbane on the northeastern coast of Australia to Perth on the southwestern coast. I also mentioned that I organized national chess events in the US and was headed to Orlando, Florida for the GM Denker Tournament of High School Champions, the Dewain Barber Tournament of K-8 Champions and the National Girls Invitational Tournament of Champions. Upon hearing this he commented, “I played chess in school and found it very challenging.”
At this point I remembered that I had both a Folding Magnetic and Checkbook Magnetic in my carryon luggage and thought that I would ask Daryl if he would do me a favor and take these two items and give them to an Australian scholastic chess player when he had a chance. At first, as I expected, he was very reluctant to accept a gift from a stranger, but then he relented and agreed.
I did not expect the next thing that was to happen. He said, “We should at least play one game before we get off the plane.” Just before we started to play, I checked the altitude of our Qantas jet: 41,009 feet. I have played several games in aircraft before, but this international flight was a new chess high.
I had no problem agreeing and the game began. Whatever skill Daryl had in high school had not been lost by him. He played skillfully and dominated the center. My black pieces were struggling to keep out of trouble when he trapped one of my bishops. A trade took place that left me down an exchange when I lost the bishop. Later, I was able to equalize. I achieved a four vs a three pawn majority on the kingside. He had a passed pawn sitting on a2. Since there were too many rooks on the board, this was going to be a long game.
Just then the captain came on the public address system and said, “We will be landing in 10 minutes. Secure everything for landing.” I looked at Daryl and offered him a draw. He accepted and he put the game away. Sometimes you want to finish a game, but can’t when you lose your “chess high.”