Finish with a win! Top Five!

With medal hopes resting on this game, I went with d4 for white. My opponent, Kaumandur Raghunandan played the Slav, and we soon got into a complex position after he made a new move. I felt I was much better, but when he played the a5 shot, I immediately knew that I was worse. I went into a pawn-down middlegame, but with two bishops. My opponent was in time pressure, and I used this to win back my pawn with some tactics. Eventually, we went into an endgame, but on the last move before time control, my opponent lost a pawn. In the endgame, I sacrificed my extra pawn, but eventually won his knight. I won the rook-and-bishop vs. rook endgame with a mate. I ended up with 8/11, but the results I needed on boards 2 and 3 didn't happen. I tied for fourth with Alexey Sarana, the Russian who I lost to, but the tiebreaks were changed; they went from number of wins to number of opponents' points. My tiebreaks were pretty bad, and I ended up finishing fifth. Overall, it was a good tournament and my best ever World Youth finish!

Seventh Win!

     With black against Yuanhe Zhao, I surprised him on the first move. We eventually got into an equal position, and after we traded pieces, we ended up in a queen endgame. I was pushing for a win by allowing him chances to mess up. On the move before time control, he made the decisive mistake and resigned soon after. I now have 7/10 and actually still have a chance at medals if I win and results go my way. Tomorrow, I am playing Kaumandur Raghunandan, a 2370 Indian, with white on board 5.

Third Loss

Today, I played against Alexey Sarana, a 2430 from Russia. He caught me off guard in the opening, making me use 30 minutes on the fifth move. From there on out, I was in time trouble, and could never get back in the game. I eventually went into a pawn-down rook endgame, and he was able to win quite easily. Alexey was extremely strong, and I think that he was better than me in all aspects today. I now have 6/9 and have black on board 9 against Yuanhe Zhao, from China.

Craziness in the eighth!

Today, I had black against Zhandos Agmanov, a 2150 from Kazakhstan. We went into a French, but my opponent didn't prepare well for the line I played. He spent a large amount of time, but got a decent position. Then, he started attacking me, I thought for a long time, considering his queen sacrifice, and decided that I was better in the following position. If my opponent didn't sack his queen, he would have an even position. However, he thought for thirty minute before taking two pieces for the queen. Then, the onus was on me to prove that I was better. I found a strong move, forcing him to take a rook and a knight for a queen. Later I won another pawn, then we went into huge complications. He had a lot of mate and perpetual threats, but I eventually found a way to defend everything. Zhandos eventually succumbed to my far advanced past pawns. After this win, I have 6/8 and could possibly be paired up next round.

Seventh Round

     With the white pieces against Alisher Suleymenov from Kazakhstan, I was expected a Benko Gambit since that is what my opponent had played last, but I had also prepped for Grunfeld. Since there were no games in the database with me playing either of those openings, I assumed that I would be better prepared than my opponent. He played the Grunfeld, but was soon thinking for a long time about the way to play. I built up a huge time advantage; my opponent was down to 23 minutes by move 15. I sacrificed a pawn in the opening, but got a crushing center. I won the pawn back and another. I made a few moves to test him with some tactics, but then went for a positional plan. He came up with a tactical shot that didn't work so well after some solid moves, but we traded queens right before time control. I had an easily winning endgame, but my opponent took a lot of time, leading to a finish at around 8:20. Tomorrow, I have black on board 7 against another Kazakh player, 2151-rated Zhandos Agmanov.

Dreaded Double Day (part 2)

     Playing white against Polish Igor Janik, I had two minutes left and an important decision to make. Take the draw with a repetition, or press and risk losing. I had had a slight advantage from the opening, but messed up in time pressure to lose it. I then made the wrong, dumb decision of playing on. I got a down-a-pawn rook endgame which should have been holdable, but after wasting two inaccurate moves, I was much worse, and probably lost.
     In the sixth round, I had the misfortune of playing the US player, Brandon Nydick. I had black and in fact, the opening was the same as the one in the morning. It was the line that I play against the King's Indian and this time, I was on the opposite side. My opponent didn't seem to know the opening well, hesitating with some move order switches that I threw in. He made two inaccuracies and allowed me to get a giant queenside attack on his king. After this, he was probably lost.
     On the rest day, Rayan Taghizadeh, Craig Hilby, and I all went to the gym, like usual, before breakfast. After that, we went to play soccer outside. It wasn't a good idea on account of our full stomachs. However, the interesting part is that some South Africans joined us. Eventually, we had a whole group of boys dressed in traditional costumes playing, and we had no idea who is going which way! My dad and I went to the beach and I got some good pictures of the waves attacking him! Tomorrow, with 4/6, I will be playing white against Alisher Suleymenov, a 2100 from Kazakhstan, on board 10.

First Loss...

     My Armenian opponent, Haik Martirosyan, was a strong, solid player. He has a similar style to me, but with more experience. In a Nimzo Indian, my opponent played a weird move order, which allowed me to plant a knight on d6. I felt I was better even after he traded knights, and after a long combination, I knew my position was good. My pieces were active and his were cramped, but he had some chances with his queenside pawns. I made a mistake, allowing him to trade rooks, but if I had kept them on the board, I would have been better. The following endgame was still equal, but I blundered a combination. He put his knight on a1 (the corner) and it consolidated his position. He was able to win soon after. I would have pushed on anyway, but I feel that I played the endgame too fast.
      3/4 is not bad, but I need to do well tomorrow to stay in contention. It is another tough double day tomorrow, and my morning round is against Igor Janik from Poland. There are only four perfect and three with three and a half so anybody can catch up. Wish me luck!

(Not-So) Dreaded Double Day (Part 1)

     In the second round, I played against Paulius Pultinevicius from Lithuania. I got an even position out of the opening, which is not what I wanted, but it wasn't terrible. I made a pawn break to open up the position, and then retreated my queen. At this point, I was worried as I thought that if my opponent played properly, I would have to take a draw, but, luckily, he didn't see a tactical sequence that allowed me to win an exchange. After that, I had a few scares in the endgame, but it was relatively simple to convert.
     In the third round, I was on the top 10 DGT boards. These are nice wooden boards that broadcast the games to the WYCC website at this link: http://www.2014wycc.co.za/open-14.html . I played against Adham Kandil, an Egyptian. In the Slovenia World Youth, I was upset in the second round by Adham Fawzy, also an Egyptian. I am not sure if they are brothers, but this seemed like Déjà vu so I was extra careful in the game. On a side note, Adham Fawzy upset the top seed in the second round. : ) In the game, my opponent played the dangerous Alekhine-Chatard Attack. I took the gambited pawn, but eventually gave it back for queenside play. When I had consolidated my position, I came back and took open files on the kingside. Soon after, my opponent opened dangerous weaknesses on the queenside, and I came back to attack there. He was lost and played a move which allowed me to win a piece. After that, it was an easy conversion.
     I now have 3/3. I am playing white on board 4 against a 2330, Haik Martirosyan. I need to do well this round to have a better result than Dubai. Wish me luck!

World Youth Begins Again!

     This year, the World Youth is in Durban, South Africa. We had an uneventful flight to London and then from there to Johannesburg and then from there to Durban. We are staying at the Maharani Hotel. We have a great room, and the food here is at least better than Dubai.
     The tournament itself is actually very well organized. The buses to the playing hall are frequent and on time. The pairings were posted quickly and accurately. The playing hall was amazing! It was spacious and provided us with water and decent boards. However, only the top ten boards are broadcasted through DGT. The opening ceremony started when the round was supposed to, but that was still better than Dubai. There were many speeches and Zulu warriors actually did a dance. It took forty-five minutes and the round eventually started at 4:45. Overall, this World Youth is much better than the last, so far...
     In the first round, I played an Australian, James Kay. He was rated about 1660 FIDE. I played the French and won a pawn quickly. I made some inaccuracies, and allowed him to equalize. He also didn't play correctly and I was able to retain my advantage. I sacked two pawns so I was one pawn down, but got a huge attack. He couldn't defend and I won soon after.

Pacific Southwest Open

     After another mediocre tournament, I lost four more rating points to drop my rating to an even 2300. A week later, I traveled to LA to play in the Pacific Southwest Open. We arrived around midnight due to giant traffic jams. In the first round, I got an even position from an Exchange French against Vikram Ganesh. After dropping a pawn, I was able to secure a draw. In the second round, my opponent, Matthew Shuben, didn't know the opening and mixed up the move order. I was able to win quickly after his mistake. In the third round, I got an edge with black against William Duckworth's Trompowsky. Eventually, my exchange and attack were good enough to win. In the fourth round, I was white against IM Dionisio Aldama. I outplayed him and eventually won the two-pawn up endgame. In the fifth round, I had a double-white against GM Sevillano. As white, I got an equal position, but he pressed too hard and I started to become better. Eventually, I had a completely winning rook endgame which I managed to draw. That could have been my first GM win! I was upset, but tired after the long 5-hour duel. I had about half an hour to prepare for my last round game against IM Roman Yankovsky. The winner had a chance to tie for first place, depending on what happened on the first board. We got an equal position out of the French, and then he started pushing the rook-and-knight vs. rook-and-bishop endgame. He ran into time pressure and then got into a drawn rook endgame. However, I pushed my pawns quickly and he make some mistakes allowing me to get a winning position. Guess what happened. -_- Again, I messed up, this time allowing him to go into a drawn rook vs. pawn endgame. This game also went for five hours, leaving us with a six-hour drive home plus dinner at 10:00 in the night. We finally made it home at 6:00 AM and I slept in till 1. If I had won my last two games or even got 1.5/2, I would have gotten a share of first. Anyway, I still gained 30 USCF points and 80(!!) FIDE points, due to the new system.

Terrible Trio

     For me, it seems that after a good tournament, I immediately drop into a slump. After Nationals, I have played three tournaments, Best of the West, Barber Qualifier, and National Open, and played poorly in all of them. I seem to have re-opened my blundering wound and the blood from it is flowing freely. I am outplaying lower-rated opponents positionally and then missing simple ideas that cost me points. However, I am also getting outplayed when facing stronger opponents. This doesn't bode well for me as I am still going to play the World Youth in South Africa. Luckily, my rating is still over 2300, at 2304, even after three horrendous tournaments. I hope to change the trend over the next few tournaments that I play!

K-9 National Champion!

     I went into my usual post World Youth writing slump, but now I am back! I have played a few tournaments recently, the High School Nationals, the Larry Evans Memorial, and the Junior High Nationals. In the High School Nationals, I scored 5/7, losing to the eventual winner, Darwin Yang, and Abhishek Obili. I lost a few rating points, but it wasn't a terrible tournament.

     In the Larry Evans Memorial, I played badly in 3 out of the 5 games, getting lucky in my first round. In the second round, I drew Timur Gareev, my only result against a GM so far! The third and fourth rounds were terrible; I played horribly in the opening and allowed my opponent to get two connected passers in the first game, and blundered a piece on a tactic in the second. In the fifth round, I played my friend, Rayan Taghizadeh, in the French Advanced. Everything was locked up and I didn't want a draw so I sacrificed a piece. We went into a very complicated position and eventually I found a win. Throughout this tournament, I realized that I had been playing better positionally than tactically. To prep for the Junior High Nationals, I worked on tactics everyday.

    The JHS Nationals were held in Atlanta this year, forcing me to take a 3:30 flight that arrived in Atlanta at 11:10. My dad and I traveled with my friend Allan Beilin and his dad. It was late at night and we still needed to find a place to eat. We wandered the streets of downtown Atlanta and when we saw that almost nothing was open, we returned to the hotel restaurant. I went to sleep really late, but when I got up, I still had homework to do. The first round was at 1:00 and I won easily when my opponent resigned prematurely. The second round took longer as my opponent played pretty well, but eventually I overwhelmed him in time pressure. In the third round, I played Yash Pershad. I got a better position out of the opening, but he started counterattacking on the kingside. We traded into a drawn endgame, but I thought I was better. I declined his draw offer and played on. Eventually I realized that it wasn't looking so good, and offered a draw. He accepted and I was really relieved after this game as the computer gave the position as -4 in his favor! The next round also took a long time, as I couldn't push my advantage till the endgame, but eventually I won. In the fifth round, I had no idea what was going on in the opening so I went into a line which neither my opponent nor I knew. I got a nice position after implementing my plan, and I used tactics to win. In the sixth round, I played Abhisek Obili with the same color that I had lost to him with in the High School Nationals. We played the same line, but this time I didn't make any opening mistakes. I sacrificed a pawn, but he didn't take it, allowing me to get a kingside attack. I sacrificed a queen, using nice tactics to win it back with interest. Look for the full annotated game in Chess Life for Kids. In the last round, Christopher Wu, Andrew Liu, and I were all tied for first with 5.5, but I had the best tiebreaks going into the round. I got white against Christopher and Andrew was playing down. I got a very nice position out of the opening as Christopher messed up and put his rook on a7. I slowly developed my pieces and went into an endgame. I made a lot of mistakes trying to win quickly when instead I could have slowly improved my position as there was nothing he could do. Eventually, I won a pawn and went into a winning knight endgame. I messed this up as well, leading into a drawn position, but Christopher was in time pressure so I played for a trick and he fell into it. Luck was really on my side in this tournament! Andrew and I tied for first, with me winning on tiebreaks. I was really excited because this was the first Nationals where I got the first place trophy!

Lisa

          Lisa by Jesse Kraai is a very unique book. I am pretty sure that it is the only chess novel to be published. Jesse was on my SF Mechanics team and was kind enough to give me an autographed copy of his book. GM Kraai took some time off from chess to write this book. It is based on the story of Igor Ivanov, as it says on Jesse's website: http://jessekraai.com/.

          The book is about a girl named Lisa who starts chess as one of the many things that her mom signs her up for. She plays a tournament and wins money for coaching. She approaches a grandmaster to try to improve. Throughout the book, she faces many struggles, both personal and in chess. At times the book became confusing due to the alternate world Lisa went into, however if you read slowly, you will understand. Her journal is an important symbol in the story. I have met some of the people mentioned in the book, as it takes place in Northern California. The book is so believable that I had to send an e-mail to Jesse Kraai confirming if it was fictional or not! I highly recommend this book for the detailed descriptions and the strong emotions that Lisa goes through. It is very interesting to see how Lisa copes with all of her problems, like in real life.