Farewell from Greece

Well, the tournament is FINALLY over.  Who knew eleven days of chess could be so grueling.  In the final round I played on board #2.  If I won the game, I would get the silver medal.  Unfortunately, I made a blunder in the middlegame and lost.  I came in 5th place overall.  Not too bad for my first major international chess tournament.  It was a great learning experience and I spent a lot of good time with my friends and made many new ones as well.

Congratulations to my coach (and friend) IM Steven Zierk who won the U18 World Championship gold medal.  I believe he is the first American to have ever won in that prestigious section.  Of course, I had to pay him 10 euros for our side bet, but I think he earned them.  If we make more bets like this, he'll be a grandmaster in no time.

I have many photos to post, but my Dad thinks we already packed the USB cable, so we will have to add them when we get home.  Our flight leaves in the middle of the night, and we will be traveling for over 20 hours.  Hopefully I'll get some sleep on the flight and have enough energy to join my brother trick-or-treating when we get home.  Bye for now...

The last FM

 One of the unique aspects of this tournament compared to the ones we play back home is the "one game per day" scheduling.  We find out our opponent's the night before, and we can prepare specifically for this opponent.  Each day I have a session with Coach Sam Palatnik before my game.  Here Coach Sam, Dachey Lin (of Dallas, TX), and I look at some puzzles to warm up our chess brains.

 For the fifth and final time in this tournament, I faced a FIDE Master in round 10.  This game was critical.  A win was necessary to have any shot at a medal.  My opponent was, Mohammed-Amin Tabatabaei from Iran.  The Iranian team is very strong, and Tabatabaei is their national champion.  Last year in Turkey, Tabatabaei won the bronze medal behind my friend Tanuj.  I knew this was going to be a tough game.  We looked at his games, and prepared against his Caro-Kann, but again, we got a Sicilian Defense.  Tabatabaei's play was inaccurate and I got an early advantage.  This time I continued to press my advantage and really forced through the win.  I faced five FMs and scored 4-1 against them.

During round 10, there were several other key matchups on the top board.  The biggest was Jeffery Xiong versus Tommy He, both from Dallas, TX.  Jeffery won the game to take sole possession of 1st place.  If he wins tomorrow, he gets the gold.

Other important matchups included my friends Vignesh and Samuel, playing next to each other.  Both won their games and they now have 7.5/10.0 and will face each other tomorrow. The winner of that game could possibly earn a medal.

My next round opponent is Jason Cao of Canada.  Jason has been having an excellent tournament, knocking off Samuel Sevian and Tommy He. In this picture, my friend and teammate, Jeffery Xiong, helps me prepare for my game against Jason, while his sister, Meryl, looks on.  Tomorrow is a big day and all the Americans are hoping to win.  GO Team USA!

What a difference a day makes

When we were preparing for this trip in early October, I asked my dad what the weather would be like.  He said it would be a lot like home, but perhaps a bit cooler and wetter.  Well, it has been sunny and hot each day since we arrived.  That all changed last night when a giant storm passed through.  The wind was howling all night, and there was lots of thunder and lightning.  When we awoke in the morning, we found that the power had gone out and the road and soccer field were flooded.  I guess soccer is ruled out for the day...

We couldn't go to the field for exercise, so my Dad took me on a walk to the beach instead.  All kinds of debris had washed ashore.  The beach was littered with branches, bottles, and other junk, including this giant circular hay bale.  I wonder where it came from.

The rain had stopped, but it was still quite cool and windy so we didn't stay out for long.  The power didn't get restored until about 3pm, so we mostly just hung out in the room, reviewing my lines and doing homework.

My 9th round opponent was Jingyao Tin from Singapore.  He earned the FM title as the ASEAN Under-10 champion.  ASEAN means the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and includes the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philipines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.  With the power and Internet gone, it was difficult to prepare, but, fortunately, my Dad hasn't been able to sleep here and he got some games off the Internet before the power died.
  I was pretty excited about this round because it would be my first opportunity to play the black pieces against 1. d4.  Steven and I spent a significant amount of time reviewing these lines at his mother's house back in Los Gatos in the weeks preceding the tournament, and this was my chance to show what I had learned.  I got a decent position out of the opening, and the game was tough, but I finished with a nice endgame.  Coach Sam wants the game to be published on the USCF website because he liked the way I ended the game.  I now have 7 points from 9 rounds and sit in 4th place, just a half-point behind the leaders.  The last two rounds will determine who gets the medals.  Not surprisingly, my 10th round opponent is also an FM.  Out of six FMs in the section, I will have faced 5 of them.  Sometimes life just isn't fair :)

Side bet side-note:
Prior to the tournament, my coach, Steven, and I made a side bet: whoever scores more points at the World Youth gets $10 from the other player.  When we got to Greece, we decided to up the bet to 10 euros. With 5 Grand Masters (GM), 12 International Masters (IM), 21 FIDE Masters (FM) in Steven's section, I thought this bet would be easy money.  Boy was I mistaken.  Despite my strong performance, Steven is having an amazing tournament, and I'm one half-point behind with two rounds to go.  I'll keep you posted on who wins the cash...

Rebound

One of the hardest things to do in a chess tournament is to come back to play another game after a tough loss.  My Dad says I excel at this because I have such a bad memory and forget about the loss quickly, but the truth is, there is nothing you can do about the last game now, and you have no choice but to go on and play again.  Even still, it is good to have the support of friends and family to help get your mind back to a "good place".  Today, Steven came by to check up on me and make sure I was ready for my game.  I got the white pieces for a second game in a row, so there wasn't much to prepare.  Instead we goofed around and played a few blitz games for fun.  I've only managed to flag Steven one time, but someday I think I will beat him.

My playing hall is a long skinny room in the hotel.  It is just for the U10 Open and U10 Girls sections.  There are about 100 girls and 150 boys.  The top boards in the boys section is all the way at the far end of the hall.  We have to walk the entire length of the room, squeezing past all the parents and coaches, just to get to my board.

My opponent for round 8 was Arya Omidi of Iran.  The Iranian team is very large and talented.  I did not have a lot of games to look at from Arya, but the games I had were of good quality.  I knew this was going to be a tough game.  Again, I got a very nice position out of the opening, although it wasn't as huge an advantage as in the games versus Jeffery and Tommy.  I slowly built up my attack and eventually I was able to break through.  In post-game analysis, Coach Sam showed me a nice mate that I missed, but he said I played a good game.  It was nice to come back from the previous defeat with a strong round.  In round 9, I get to face my 4th FM (out of 6 in the section).  So far, I think I've had the toughest draw of anyone in the tournament.

Team USA vs Team USA (part 2)

Everyday we try to get a little bit of fresh air and exercise.  One of our favorite activities is to take a walk along the marina.  My Dad loves to look at all of the different boats, and I can find lots of rocks and pine cones to toss into the water.  Also, my Dad is trying to teach me how to juggle.

Here are a couple of the "locals" soaking up the warmth of the hot bricks.  The sun has been out nearly every day that we've been here, but the weather is definitely getting cooler, and I think these dogs know that there won't be many more days like this.

This boat looks like it is REALLY FAST!  It is kinda hard to tell from the picture, but it is very big too.

On the far side of the marina, we found this deserted beach.  In the summer, this must be a very popular spot, but on this day, my Dad and I had the whole beach to ourselves.

In round 7, I got paired against my third FM of the tournament, my teammate, Tommy O He, from Dallas, TX.  I've played Tommy two other times at Nationals and drew both games. In the previous two games I was black, so I was really looking forward to the chance to beat Tommy with the white pieces.  In the game, I got a great position out of the opening and won a piece for a pawn, and I had a strong attack.  However, instead of pressing my advantage, I traded off some pieces.  In the exchanges, I gave up my active pieces and activated his passive pieces.  Suddenly, despite being a piece up, I was under tremendous pressure.  After a few inaccurate moves, and I was losing.  It always sucks to lose a game, but losing a game that you are clearly winning is always the toughest.  I felt like crying, but I didn't.  Kudos to Tommy for not giving up when he got in a tough spot.  Hopefully, I'll get a chance to meet him again at the Dallas Nationals next spring.

A day in Thessaloniki

After the grueling "double day", we were given a day off to rest.  My friends and I boarded a bus with our parents and other members of the USA delegation and drove two hours to the city of Thessaloniki. I have never been to a city quite like this.  It is a very big and crowded city with over 1 million inhabitants.  The city has existed for over two thousand years, and there is evidence of this throughout the city.  Here I'm standing by the city wall that used to encircle the entire city.  Over a century ago, much of the wall was dismantled to allow the city to expand, but remnants of the wall still remain.

 Thessaloniki is the second largest city in all of Greece and an important port city.  We were dropped off by the water to stroll the city on our own, enjoy the sights, do some shopping, and have fun with friends.

The parents seem to enjoy walking around just looking at stuff, but definitely the best part for me is hanging out with my friends.  See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil, and, ummm...pocket no evil? 

They say "it's greek to me", and I understand why.  The Greeks use a different alphabet and it is very hard to read their signs.  Every once in a while, we find a familiar looking place, though.  Here is a Starbucks Coffee (can you say free WiFi?).  Just across the street was a Pizza Hut too.  Some kids were excited by that, but I won't eat at Pizza Hut in the USA, so why start now.

Thessaloniki has a lot of interesting contrasts.  You might find a two thousand year old palace surrounded by modern apartment buildings.  As we strolled along the promenade, you could see several large container ships coming into port, but we also found this small Greek dingy.  My Dad liked the colors, so he took a snapshot.

Modern architecture is mixed in with the old and the ancient.  This "luxury living" apartment building was directly across the street from the promenade and the Aegean Sea beyond.

Thessaloniki is known for its shopping district.  There were many boutiques that you could find in any large city, including those in the United States.  One toy shop caught our eye because they had several unique chess sets displayed in the window, including this Smurf chess set.  I have so many sets already, so we couldn't really justify getting another one, even if they were cool.

Right in the center of the shopping district, we stumbled upon these ruins of the Palace of Galerius.  The palace was built for Roman Emperor Galerius Maximianus early in the fourth century AD.  Nearly two thousand years ago!

There are a lot of stray cats and dogs both in Thessaloniki and at the tournament site in Halkidiki. This one looks a lot like my brother's cat, so we figured his name must be Buddios.

After strolling through the city, we worked up an appetite.  Here a Greek woman prepares my lunch.   

Step 1: pour some batter onto a hot griddle.

Step 2: spread the batter to make a very thin crepe

Step 3: add ham, cheese, and some chicken

Step 4: Eat!

I've never had a crepe before and it was delicious.  My Dad says that they are actually French, and not Greek, but it was still very warm and tasty on this cool, gray day.

In the United States, we don't have cities that are so cramped.  This street was too narrow even for cars.

Thessaloniki is also an important spiritual center in Greece.  The city is filled with churches.  The practice a different form of Christianity than we find in the US.  The churches are Eastern Orthodox.  Allan's father, Harry, was quite interested in seeing the churches with their ornate decorations and interesting architecture.  I'd never really seen people come to worship, so this was new to me.

Churches, ruins, and shopping can get kind of old for a kid, but hanging out with friends is always fun.  Here Kesav and Rayan play blind chess against each other.  They are so goofy.

I think the parents may be more tired than the kids.  While we went to an archaeological museum, some of the parents snuck off for a Greek coffee, a local favorite.  Rayan and Kesav's moms are ready for a caffeine boost.

It was nice to have a break, but the tournament is starting to get really intense.  Next round I will face my second American and third FM, Tommy O He, also from the Dallas chess club.

Double Up

The World Youth Chess Championship is an eleven round tournament.  Each day we play a single game.  The game can last anywhere from one to five hours depending on how tough your opponent is.  To break up the monotony of the tournament, we play rounds 5 and 6 on the same day, and then we get a much needed day of rest. (Sporting my SF Giants shirt because they just won the pennant) My round 5 opponent was Semen Elistratov of Russia.  Going into the tournament, he was rated #4 in our section.  I knew this was going to be a tough game, and it was, right up until my opponent hung his bishop, three and a half hours into the game.  He started to cry and it was very sad.  He resigned a few moves later.  Everyone here is a champion from their own region or country and they all want to do well.  I think this is the toughest competition I've played in.

After my long round 5 game, I just had a few short hours to eat some lunch, relax, and prepare for my next opponent.  In round 6, I faced Bhaskar Gupta from India.  I had the black pieces for the second round in a row.  Bhaskar is a French Defense player himself, so I knew this would be another tough battle.  I got a very comfortable position out of the opening and I felt that I had all of the winning chances, but I played too passively and couldn't find a way to break through.  Bhaskar made several draw offers throughout the game, and finally after 5 hours I accepted.  I was a bit disappointed because I think I could have scored the full point and now I'm a half-point behind the leaders, but there is still a lot of tournament left.

After the long game, I was starving, so we skipped the coach's analysis (9 hours of chess is enough for one day) and went straight to dinner.  It was my Dad's birthday and I had hoped to give him 2 full points as a present, but he seemed pretty pleased with 1.5/2.0.  In the cafeteria, Vignesh's Dad, Siva, arranged to have a small cake brought to our table.  We lit candles and sang happy birthday.  While we were singing, nearby tables joined in.  Soon many, many tables were singing, all from different countries, and everyone clapped when we were finished.  My Dad turned bright red :)

Team USA vs Team USA

 After 3 rounds, there were still 7 players from Team USA on a perfect score (3.0/3.0).  Three of those perfect scores are in my section, Samuel Sevian, Jeffery Xiong, and myself.  Here my Dad snapped a quick picture of the three of us with Jeffery's Dad.

 One of the cool things about this tournament is you get to meet kids from all over the world who share a common interest.  Even though I can't speak with some of them, we can still play chess together.  My first round opponent, Carlos Sandoval Mercado from Mexico is very friendly and always wants to take pictures with me.  I'm sure we will be seeing him at other tournaments in the future.

We knew it was going to happen sooner or later.  With only 12 perfect scores in the section after round 3, a USA vs. USA matchup was imminent.  In round 4, I got paired with the talented Jeffery Xiong from Dallas, TX with a sky high rating of 2162 (USCF).  Jeffery and I have only played one other time online and I knew this was going to be a tough fight.  My preparation was good, and I got a winning position out of the opening and early middlegame, but Jeffery played better in the late middlegame and I was suddenly in a losing position.  In the end, we wound up drawing the match and both have a score of (3.5/4.0).  That puts us into a 6-way tie for 4th place.

Hungary for some French Fries?

Life here in Greece is finally starting to fit a bit of a schedule:

• Because of the time difference, I'm still going to bed late and sleeping in as late as I can. When I wake up in the morning, my Dad has usually looked up my day's opponent and his games. I will make a quick study of the games to see how he plays, we'll discuss some plans and go grab some breakfast. 
• After breakfast, I will usually try to get some of my independent study done for school, while my Dad does his work. 
• At 11:00am, we meet with Coach Sam to do preparation for the match.  Sam usually gives me some puzzles, tells me to walk on the beach and eat ice cream.  These things are important for strong play :)  
• After my session with Sam, we will usually do some sort of physical activity; sometimes we go for a walk, play catch with our baseball gloves we brought, or play soccer with my friends from Team USA.  
• Next it is time for a quick lunch.  The food here is much better than my Dad expected.  Some people are growing a little tired of the "sameness", but I can eat pasta everyday, so I'm happy.
• After lunch it is time for some serious preparation.  I usually go through my opponent's games again, to see what type of style he plays.  Next, I review my lines and try to predict how he will play.  Usually Steven will come by if he has finished his preparation and make sure that I have a good plan.  It really helps to have your coach at the tournament.
• Once the preparations are complete, it is game time.  Most of my games have been taking 3.5-4.5 hours.  There are many strong players here and there are no "easy" games.
• After the game, we go downstairs to review our game (win or lose) with one of the Team USA coaches.  Analyzing your games with a strong player or coach is one of the best ways to improve your chess.
• Finally it is time to eat dinner.  All of our meals are taken much later than I'm used to back home, but my body clock is all messed up from jetlag so I don't really know what time it is.  All I know is that when we eat at 9pm after a long day of study, preparation, game and analysis, I'M STARVING!  Plus, if we win our games we get cake :)
• Time for bed and we do it again tomorrow

My independent study requires me to do some PE each day.  It is also good for my chess to get some fresh air and exercise.  Here, Team USA is having some fun together on a nearby soccer field.  We even had a friendly match with Team Holland.  As other players from different countries would arrive, they'd join sides.  Even though we couldn't all speak the same spoken languages, we all shared the languages of soccer and chess.

Another requirement of my independent study is to complete a reading log.  I like to read and it eases my mind.  My Dad likes it because I'm quiet and he can do his work.

My opponent in round 3 was Hungarian Attila Czupor.  We had a collection of his games and they were all 1.e4 e5 or 1.e4 c5, so I thought I'd give him a tasty serving of my French (fries) Defense.  As predicted, he didn't have a lot of experience with the French and I was able to get a comfortable position and win the game to stay perfect on 3.0/3.0

Another day, another FM

My section has 154 kids playing in it. Six of those kids hold the title of FIDE Master (FM), and in the first two rounds I've played two of them.  So much for having easy pairings in the early part of the tournament...

What? 1. ... c5?  So much for my preparation...

After defeating the co-champion from the Pan American Youth Festival in round 1, I was rewarded by having to face the Indian U-9 National Champion, Guha Mitrabha.  My Dad and I looked on the Internet and found several of his games.  In a half-dozen games as black, he played the Caro-Kann, and a particularly strange line.  With Steven, I prepared several variations against this opening, all of them leaving me with a very comfortable position.  Imagine my surprise when he answers 1. e4 with the Sicilian Defense.  All I could do was laugh to myself, thinking about the hours I wasted in preparation.  In the end, I managed to beat my second FM of the tournament, so I wasn't too upset about the lost time.  Tomorrow I play a boy from Hungary who also has won both of his games.  Only 27 (out of 154) players still have a perfect score, and the competition will just keep getting tougher and tougher.

The tournament is finally underway

Today we got assigned to different coaches that are provided by the USCF. My coach is GM Sam Palatnik. Prior to the first round, I had a warm-up session with Coach Sam and siblings Jonathan and Sarah Chiang.  We tried solving some interesting puzzles just to loosen up the mind and get into chess mode.

For the first round, my opponent was Carlos Sandoval Mercado from Mexico.  This year in Brazil, Carlos was co-champion of the Pan American Youth Chess Festival and earned the FIDE Master (FM) title.  I was a little nervous having to face such a strong opponent in the first round, but my pregame preparation was good, I got a comfortable position, and won in a straight forward fashion.

The tournament was a little disorganized to start.  When I arrived in the playing hall, I didn't even have a table.  You can see in the picture above that we have a table but no board.  I guess someone miscounted...

My playing hall is in the hotel, but the older kids (U12 and up) are playing in a nearby building. The picture on the left is taken from the hotel, looking along the marina; the older kids' playing hall is the first building past the giant yachts.

This is the view from the playing hall looking back towards our hotel.  Pretty nice, huh?

After our games, we need to report to the USA coaches for post-game analysis (win or lose).  Coach Sam liked my game, but he wanted to make sure that I took my Dad out for a walk to get some fresh air.  He said my Dad is like a pet and I need give him exercise to keep him healthy.  Sam is funny like that.  This is a picture of me down by the marina with the lights of the hotel in the distance.

One game down, ten more to go...

Wow, this place is amazing!

The view of a nearby village from our hotel

We got to the hotel around 4am this morning after traveling for nearly 24 hours, and my Dad made me go straight to sleep. We wanted to get up by 10:30am for breakfast, but we both slept right through the meal. After a nice long shower, we went out to find my friends and explore the hotel grounds. As you can see from the picture above, the resort is located at spectacular site. It is now off-season and most things are closed, but the resort has a nice looking pool (unheated sea water), golf course, tennis courts, soccer field, and beach. During the summer, I think this area must be quite crowded, but now it is very quiet except for 1000 chess kids running around.

On the way to the village, we met up with my coach and fellow teammate Steven Zierk

After exploring a bit on our own, we finally found my friends and we decided to walk to the next village over to pick up some supplies. It turns out the nearest market is a few kilometers down the beach. On the way there, my coach Steven caught up to us and we all went together. At the market we picked up some of my favorite chess staples: lots of bottled water (very heavy), cheese, crackers, ham, and fruit. We calculated that we had to carry 120 lbs. of water back to the hotel, but it was a good deal. Steven said that he paid about 50 times as much for a small bottle of water in the Frankfurt airport.

After missing breakfast and doing all that walking, I was starving. Thankfully we got back from our adventure in time for lunch. The lunch was buffet style and very good with lots of things I like to eat.

Now we are hanging out in our room. I've got independent study work to do for my school and my Dad has to work. Tonight we have a team meeting with all of the coaches and American players. Things will start to get more serious then.

Blitzing in Zurich

Hanging out with friends in the Old Town part of Zurich

We are on our way to Greece and we have a 7-hour layover in Zurich, Switzerland.  In addition to Allan, Vignesh, and Kesav, we had Samuel Sevian and Joanna Liu on our flight over from SF.  We met up with coach Andranik in the Zurich airport.    Uncle Harry took us all on a stroll around the old part of town.  Now we are blitzing at a Starbucks (can you say free WiFi?).

Impromptu blitz tournament in a Starbucks in Zurich