Master!!!!

After getting back from the World Youth, I took a break for a couple of weeks. However at my next tournament, the Cupertino Octos, I swept the top octos with 3/3 and took home prize money and twenty-six rating points which brought me to 2191 from 2165. When the World Youth got rated, I only got one point for 8/11. Therefore, I needed eight points for my master title. This weekend, I played in the Winter Open. I drew with Dana Mackenzie, a 2117, in the first round. I was tired as I had a huge science test and was studying late the previous night and early that morning. In the  next round, I outplayed Siddarth Banik, a 2033, in the Keres Attack. I won the third round quickly against Josiah Steerman, an 1812, on a tactic. After this game, I only needed 3 points to become a master. I was paired with Mike Splane, a 2264 in the fourth round. He played a6 on the first move and his dark squares were weak throughout the game. I gradually outplayed him and then sacrificed a piece to win. I decided not to play the fifth round to guarantee becoming a master and now my rating is 2206! As promised long ago, my dad will get me a puppy and take care of it while my brother and I get to play with it. I want a golden retriever puppy, but my parents are trying to convince me to get a labrador or a pomeranian. On Christmas day, I am going on a five day trip to Los Angeles/San Diego and then am coming back in time for the U.S. Chess School in San Francisco. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

WYCC 2012 Poem

In school, we had a rare chance for an extra credit activity in language arts. We were supposed to make a poem about an event. Originally it was assigned before Thanksgiving break to be written about Thanksgiving, but my teacher gave me the option of writing the poem about my tournament. Here is the poem:

The Games Have Begun!

Drowsy from flight

Jetlag sets in

As chess players settle in for the night

The games have begun!

The ambassador comes

Amazing all Americans

The players twiddle their thumbs

The games have begun!

Round 1 starts

Good for USA and me

Wins are off the charts

The games have begun!

Round 2 is done

A loss saddens me

But I must move on and continue the long run

The games have begun!

Third and fourth rounds are won fast

As I am fueled by thoughts of revenge

To put round 2 into the past

The games have begun!

The double day is what I dread

1 win and loss to finish the first half

4 out of 6 as I go to bed

The games have begun!

Rest day comes and goes

 Pizza for lunch and dinner

As time slows

The games have begun!

Round 7 is a scare

Blunder early, but fight back

Mistakes happen, and then I take care

The games have begun!

Two tough games follow

But I stay strong

As the playing field starts to hollow

The games have begun!

Round 10 brings a heartbreaking loss

As my medal chances are shot

I need to finish strong even for a lost cause

The games have begun!

After the tournament is like

A crazy party

It’s all fun and games till the speaker takes the mike

The games have concluded!

-By Vignesh Panchanatham

on my experience at the World Youth Chess Championships 2012

Round 11 and end of tournament

I won my last game against my new friend from Seattle, Bryce Tiglon. After a hedgehog-like position out of the opening, I did a tactic which got me the pair of bishops. Then I did another tactic which won me a piece. I tied for 6th, but tiebreaks were not on my side. I finished just outside of the top ten, number 11 on tiebreaks.

Round 10

Today I played the number 3 seed, of the section, from Russia, Saveliy Golubov. I got a worse position from the opening and then lost a pawn. I lost another pawn and he converted the opposite color bishop endgame. After this loss, I lost my chances at a medal, but I can still have a strong finish if I win the next one.

Round 9

Today I played against my friend from Seattle, Roland Feng. I did a lot of prep and was able to get a better position out of the opening. After a little bit, I converted my advantage into a two pawn-up endgame. I converted that with a little bit of difficulty. At first, when the result was up, it said I drew. That probably gave my dad a scare! After two minutes, the real result came up and he could breathe again. Two more tough rounds to go!

Round 8

Today I played against Olexandr Triapishko, the number one Ukrainian. He was very hard to prepare for as he goes under two names, Alexandr Trjpishko and the name above. In the game, he took a lot of time for the opening, but still got a worse position. In the middlegame, I attacked his king. He tried to do the same, but in doing so he lost a piece. Then I had mate in 2 and he resigned. He was under time pressure the whole game. I continue on with 6/8 with three more rounds to go. 

Round 7

Today I played against a Lithuanian, Matas Samulionis. Out of the opening, a Caro-kann, I made a mistake and got a much worse position with my king exposed. I managed to survive and go into a rook endgame down a piece for two pawns. Since I had complicated the position, he was low on time and made a blunder. I was then able to win. I got lucky, but hopefully I won't need this much luck to win next time. 

Rounds 5 and 6

Today I had an Indian doubleheader match. I played against Nitish Belurkar in the morning for round 5 and Abhimanyu Puranik in round 6. I won against Nitish after getting a good position from my prep. I sacrificed a piece in a tactical middlegame. I got back a rook so I was up and exchange in the endgame. I converted pretty easily. I played on the top ten boards against Abhimanyu Puranik, the top player from India. I got a slightly worse position out of the French Advanced which I needed to defend. I went into a bishop endgame pawn down, but I couldn't save the game. I am going into the rest day with 4/6, but if I stay strong in rounds 7-11, I can medal. We will probably go to Maribor on the rest day only because my dad wants to and then hit the thermal pool at the hotel.

BTW, My brother's team came second in soccer tournament. Go Muthu!

Round 4

Today I played against the number one 11-year old in Slovenia, David Brinovec. After the opening, I sacrificed a knight for two pawns. Then, I got my piece back and simplified into an opposite-colored bishop ending. I won that after marching my king to support my pawn promotion. I have 3/4 heading into tomorrow's doubleheader. If I do well there, I can get back to the top. My brother scored his first goal in a soccer tournament this weekend for Force! At the time of this writing, they have a shot at the finals.

Round 3

Today, I played against Bulgarian David Tsvetanov. In this game, I sacked a pawn for a kingside attack before he castled queenside. I continued my attack there and won the pawn back. Then I did a tactic that forced him to desperado his queen till when I was down a pawn. However, I won an exchange and the pawn back with a passed h-pawn promotion threat. I did another tactic to push my pawn home. When I was analyzing,GM Joel Benjamin said this game was an advertisement for the Nc3 advanced Caro-kann. This prompted me to submit my game for publishing on the Chess Life Magazine.  I hope tomorrow goes just as well as today.

Round 2

Today I played FM Adham Fawzy from Egypt. He sacrificed a piece and doubled his rook and queen on the h-file. I had to move my f-pawn to avoid getting mated but then he retreated his queen to double on the e-file. There I had to sacrifice a rook to not get mated. He was up an exchange and he stopped my pawn from promoting. After that I was lost. Hopefully I do better in the next few games.

World Youth Chess Championship 2012!

I'm playing in U-12 Open section in the World Youth Chess Championship 2012 at Maribor Slovenia.
www.wycc2012.com

Round 1

In round 1, I played a Puerto Rican candidate master. I finished within 25 minutes and 20 moves. My opponent fell for a trap in the Scandinavian so I won a piece. After that I came up to the room and was working on my independent study. Yesterday, after dinner, me and Rayan Taghizadeh had a disagreement about the French Advance. However, when we went up to the room, I showed him many ways one can win for and against the French Advance. During that time, Rayan was using his distraction/entertainment tactics - and it was a lot of fun - Thanks Rayan! The pool here at Hotel Habukak is supposed to be good. I want to try it out soon...

Book Review for The Magician

If you read the first book in the series, The Alchemyst, you would have read that after escaping from Hekate's Shadowrealm, Nicholas, Sophie, Josh, and Scathach fled to Ojai where Scatty's grandmother, the Witch of Endor, lives. Here, Sophie learns the magic of air from the Witch, but instead of teaching Sophie the magic in the regular way, the Witch gives all of her memories to Sophie. When Dr. John Dee tries to trap the group, they escape through a leygate. A leygate is a point where two or more leylines meet. When you go through a leygate, you can travel from one point of a globe to another along a leyline. In this case, the group went to Paris where they were given an unwanted greeting by Dee's associate, Niccolo Machiavelli. He nearly captured them, but with the spectacular firework distraction by Flamel's old student and Master of Fire, Comte de Saint-Germain, they escaped safely. Scatty, Sophie, and Josh went with Saint-Germain while Nicholas went to retrieve some objects from his old house. At Saint-Germain's safe house, they met Saint-Germain's wife, Joan d'Arc, who was the last person to have a pure silver aura like Sophie. Joan helped Sophie to shape her aura and sort the thoughts that the Witch gave her. Sophie and Josh both sleep for nearly a day and a half and when they wake up, Nicholas is back and eating breakfast. Since Josh hasn't been Awakened yet, Nicholas gives him the sword known as Clarent to protect himself. Scatty teaches Josh the basics of sword-fighting during the time that Sophie learns fire magic from Saint-Germain. In the middle of the night, Machiavelli and Dee use Disir to attack the house. The Disir unleash the Nidhogg and then start to attack the house. Scathach and Josh try to fend off the Nidhogg, but Scathach was captured by the Nidhogg so Josh had to fight it by himself. Joan and Sophie together defeat two Disir and then together with Nicholas go after Josh and the Nidhogg. To find out what happens in the end, read The Magician by Michael Scott.

Book Review for The Alchemyst

          I am finally back on my blog after nearly a year of break! Since I am going to be reading a lot of books this summer, I decide that I would publish my reviews on this blog. I am starting out with a review about a book in the series that I am currently reading. The series' name is The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel and the book that I am going to write a review for is the first book, The Alchemyst. Sophie and Josh are two normal high school twins. During the summer, they took up jobs at a coffee shop and a bookstore, respectively, to earn money for a car. One day, an odd man comes into the bookshop and brings three creatures into it. The odd man fights with the owner, Nick Fleming, and, somehow, both of the men use magic. The owner's wife, Perry Fleming, also uses magic and is captured and taken away along with a book called The Codex. They eventually find out that Nick and Perry Fleming are just aliases for Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. They also discover that the strange man was Dr. John Dee and all three of these people are immortal. This leads them into a world where myths are the truth, legends are alive, and danger is lurking in every corner. They leave the bookstore to find Scathach, the Warrior Maid, who will become a protecter of the twins. They then leave San Fransisco and go to Mill Valley to the Elder, Hekate. She tries to awaken their enhanced senses (make their five senses sharper; *"see with acuity, hear with clarity, taste with purity, touch with sensitivity, and to smell with intensity"*) , but an army led by Dee, Bastet, and Morrigan is building at her Shadowrealm's front door. She is only able to awaken Sophie before the army breaks through. To find out more about what happens in this book, read The Alchemyst by Michael Scott. Just to let you know, all the people or Elders in this book are based on real people or legends/myths. I will be doing more reviews on this series throughout the weeks. Happy reading! A"*"means it is a quote from the book.