My 2024 Recap
Many things happened in 2024, From the rise of young talents to the exciting (or not) World Rapid & Blitz. But what is certainly true is that I still suck at chess… However, this doesn’t mean I didn’t improve at all, 2024 was a “learning year” for me. Although my rating stayed pretty much the same, my chess/life experience did not. I even managed to be the founder of Paragon Chess Academy, which is one of my proudest achievements 
.
And today, I am happy to share some of my experiences in the past year with you. Some things to expect in this blog:
- My Tournaments in 2024
- My “World Champion Match” against @electrosaw (And Drama)
- Funny Stories/memes (Yes, I know I have 0 talent in Comedy, but trust me… )
- More Things.
With that being said, let’s rewind to the beginning of 2024:
My Drama With Tyson Brady (@electrosaw)
The World Championship Matches
As we all know, the World Chess Championship is one of the most high-level tournaments on planet Earth. So Why is the title of this section called “The World Championship Matches”? No, I did not beat Cagnus Marlsen (AKA the GOAT) nor Ding Liren (AKA the Semi-GOAT), or at least come close to it. Let me explain:
I first met Tyson back in 2022, when we played in Round 2 of the 9th Cherry Blossom Classic. There must have been some magic because my position was better in the end (As we all know, anyone who played Tyson was doomed to be crushed in under 10 moves. Achieving a better position against Tyson was a historic achievement by mankind), but I was low on time and agreed to a draw.
Moral of the Story?
We started to play a lot online. After a year of getting “cooked,” this is what our score looked like:
Yeah… This is a classical oopsie daisy moment. And this is where I offer my first famous quote of 2024.
Just because you suck, doesn’t mean you suck” - Qi Pang 2024
This is why I hosted the 2024 World Chess RipOff Championship(to get revenge); where I played Tyson in a 24 (!) game of 15+10. Whoever scores 12.5 first wins and can officially claim himself the “better” player. Note this format is very similar to the Kasparov - Karpov match in 1985 (1986, 1987, 1990).
I did a blog on this match of course, so here are the links to it:
https://www.chess.com/blog/Elite-Reports/who-will-triumph-part-1
https://www.chess.com/blog/Elite-Reports/who-will-triumph-part-2
https://www.chess.com/blog/Elite-Reports/who-will-triumph-part-3
For those who are lazy, here is what happened in a nutshell:
Hope this summarizes the match pretty well.
Well, this wraps up my 4000-rated performance in this “tournament”.
Becoming a Tournament Director
Earlier this year, I got my tournament director certificate, meaning I can officially direct USCF-rated events (yay). Even for tournament directors, there are a few levels:
1. Club TD (Lowest Level - Me)
2. Local TD
3. Senior TD
4. The Associate National Director (ANTD)
5. The National Director (NTD)
6. International Arbiter (Kinda the Highest Level)
Being a TD is beneficial for a few reasons:
A) You get to watch people hang their queens (And laugh at them, wow I’m nice).
B) Make kids cry (e.g. tell them it’s touch move so they hang mate).
C) Be fair (The least important).
If you want to become a TD as well, click here for more information.
Meeting Gotham Chess
I met GothamChess (Levy Rozman) Yay
Paragon Chess Academy
In early September of 2024, I founded Paragon Chess Academy, with the goal of helping chess players get better. We offer free courses and professional coaching, so be sure to check out our website here! We do everything online so your location doesn’t matter. And if you were lucky enough to be a student, the first thing you learned was my famous quote (aka my second famous quote of 2024):
If you want to improve your game, the first thing you should do is stop sucking - Qi Pang 2024
Yes, I know, what a life-changing advice. Anyways, below is a simple guide on PCA:
Website: https://paragonchessacademy.com/
Coaching: https://paragonchessacademy.com/coaching
Free Courses: https://paragonchessacademy.com/chess-courses
Visiting our website is completely optional, but if you don’t, I WILL find your house and do unspeakable things to you. Below is an example:
Our “Staff”
Sadly, I didn’t kidnap any children for child labor, I would “never” do that. For now, Tyson (@electroaw) is the general manager and our assistant coach.
We are hiring for a Marketing/Salesperson, and anyone is welcome to apply. Below are some information regarding this:
PCA is Hiring For Marketing/Salespersons!
What you are responsible for:
Advertising our services brings in potential customers (aka students).
What we are looking for:
Fluent in English
Communication Skills
Pay:
Commissioned (For every student you bring us, you make 30% ).
Feel free to contact me if you are interested (Or DM):
Thank you
Ok, moving on to the most exciting part of this recap, my best/worst games played in 2024.
In 2024, I played 5470 games in total, 1677 of them being titled players. And on lichess, I played 11696 moves which is 490 Kilograms of wood pushed.
This is pretty cool, but I did the same calculations and found out that I played over 200,000 moves on Chess.com. Anyways, these are some interesting facts. On to the games:
Worst Games of 2024
** Warning: I am not liable for any brain cell loss for the next sections(s), viewer discretion advised.
Bullet:
I figured if I'm showing my best games it might as well show my tournament games, where "real" Chess is played. And finally, there is a bonus game in the end.
