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 :)