Birthday Post #2: My Chess Career 9-12 years old
(This is a strict continuation of Part 1. Check it out or this will not make any sense.)
https://www.chess.com/blog/Chessdemon2019/birthday-post-1-my-chess-career-from-4-9-years-old
Continuing on from my previous post, I played in the 2016 NAYCC (North American Youth Chess Championships). It was a tough tournament, and I'll talk about it round after round.
(Ignore all of the bad annotation or anything like that, just focus on the game. I still didn't know how to use a PGN 4 years ago. Just focus on the main line.)
With a wild but convincing 7/9 round performance, I was able to secure 2nd place, and is the reason why I have the CM title beside my name 
. So I'll take you through them.
Round 1 was where I played my first game against an extremely low rated player compared to me. I achieved a slow and steady win.
Round 2 was when I had my first loss. I thought that if I lost so early there would probably be no chance for me to get top 3. Alas, my opponent in this round came first, so it wasn't too bad.
Round 3 was when I played a good friend and I almost lost the game due to time trouble, but I still managed to pull it off with a win.
Round 4 was when I finally played someone about the same strength as I have. I managed to pull off the victory.
Round 5 was my worst/best game in all my games. I played against someone about 400 ELO higher than me, but I managed to swindle the position by putting my bishop on the a3-f8 diagonal.
Round 6 was a messed up Gruenfeld Defense that I played wrong in the opening, but later converted.
Round 7 was against my chess friend (check part #1 for another game against him). This game he offered a draw in a winning position, and I got lucky.
Round 8 was when I played against one of the strongest Canadian prodigies at the time. I was better but decided to offer a draw because I didn't want to mess up my position and accidentally lose.
Finally, Round 9 was a beauty of a game by me, basically destroying my opponent in the Sveshnikov, my pet opening at the time. With these games, I secured second place and thus, secured my CM title!
This basically finished up me from 9-10 years old, as I had to stabilize at my new rating. Now comes one of my tournaments when I was 11 years old. It was also one of the best tournaments in my life. Unfortunately, I caught influenza and felt extremely sick, so I couldn't play the last game in the 5 games I played. Here is a compilation of them.
Round 1 was when I finally started playing the Maroczy Bind! I still played the English Opening at that age, but this game inspired me to play the 5.f3 line regularly in the Sicilian, which I have done so often these days. My opponent misplaced his knight on c6 instead of d7, and that ultimately brought his position down.
Round 2 was against that same chess friend again. As you can see, I play him again and again at different levels. I later converted this Dutch Defense to my favour.
Round 3 was against one of Canada's best female players. I still solidly converted the Sicilian Defense.
And finally, Round 4 was the real deal. Take a hard look at the endgame and see the grinding that I did. I officially had recognition as an amazing endgame player due to my outstanding performance, and this was one big contributor. My opponent is a Tournament Director in the Greater Toronto Area, and he is still an extremely good player. But I still managed the grind. The last move of the game was a beauty.
That summarizes me at 11 years old. Finally, we can move up to 12 years old...
12 years Old: National Master Title
At the end of December 2019, I played in the Hart House Chess Open. It is part of the University of Toronto that many viewers may know. I had the rating to become a national master (2200) I just needed 3 performance ratings of 2300+ to get the title. Luckily for me, I achieved that goal after a few really tough games.
Round 1 was when I played against one of the best Canadian prodigies. My opponent is a FIDE Master, 2 years older than me and the youngest player to achieve the Canadian National Master title. I've also played him many times, with a +0 =3 -7 record.
Round 2 is nothing but luck. I was definitely losing, losing, losing, losing (wait for it) and then suddenly my opponent blunders and allows me to win! 80-move long game, but I somehow pulled it off and won. Also an endgame masterpiece ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Round 3 was when I played against another strong and young player. I lost due to opening preparation sadly and was beaten quite badly.
Round 4 I got back to the same preparation, and this time beat my opponent in opening preparation. Got the win, back to 50%. At this point in time my performance rating was 2283, so I needed the last game for a win to get my title. And that's exactly what I did.
Round 5 This beautiful last game by me was another queen endgame grind. I solidified my pieces and made sure my opponent never had a chance to attack. It worked out in the end, and I won the game. I also won my National Master title in that same tournament at the end of December 15, 2019. This means I achieved it when I was 12 years old, 2 days to becoming 13.
As of this blog post published, I am 10 days away from being 14. I have just showed you guys 3 major tournament in my life. My final birthday post will be coming one day before my birthday! In the meantime, I'll be working on a LCWL blog for the Chess Federation of Canada. I'll see you then.
Thanks for Reading!!
The Chess Maniac
