Yes, that was a humorous moment.
However, in actual scholastic chess tournaments, if Dawson had a higher U.S. Chess Federation rating (or approximately the same) as his last-round opponent, a loss wouldn't sting as heavily. In chess (as in, perhaps, learning to play a musical instrument), natural ability doesn't really track by age. In non-scholastic chess tournaments, I've had losses and draws to a few of the top-rated U.S. juniors in their age category, but because they were higher-rated than myself the result was statistically expected.
One of the nice points of chess is that the "egalitarianism" of the game, as illustrated throughout the movie. One of the subtler things, perhaps not noticed by some viewers, was the interaction between Dawson and the other 4th-graders, such as during the classroom's review of the first tournament's results. Normally, 4th-graders would hardly pay attention to discussion points brought up by a kindegartner, but because of Dawson's playing strength, he was treated as an "equal" by the other students.
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amazon423
15 years ago
Dawson was incredible. He was half the age of the others but he was able to play with the best of them. No one told him he was too young so he was open and willing to learn a new game. Younger kids sometimes notice things and learn things that older kids have learned may be nonsense or just are bored. My youngest when he was around 6 years of age pointed out one day as we were watching a show about Beluga whales that they did not have a dorsal fin as do most other cetaceans. None of the rest of us had noticed that.
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