The sequel to the CYCC, the NAYCC, was held in Morrison, New Jersey. Info is here.
The official hotel of the tournament, Hyatt Regency hotel, was all sold out, so we had to book a room in the Extended stay America hotel, which was 15 minutes’ driving away. My dad was supposed to come to help out as the driver for the tournament week. But he can’t due to an emergency in our new home. So we took UBER everyday.
In the United States Uber is more common than in Canada, simply because U.S. has a larger population.
Some vital details about this tournament: The tournament consists of 9 rounds cut into a week. U14 Open first place gets an FM title.
Before the tournament, my expectation was to get at least top three.
With that spirit I had a good start in the tournament. But then, I lost to a low-rated player in round 3! What an unpleasant turn for me…. I continued to play on with a mindset that I would not have the chance to win.
Dramatically I won several games in a row, and continued with 2 draws, one where I was winning and the other one where I was totally losing.
I survived the first 8 rounds. Before the last round, I was the co-leader with Alan, but I have a higher tiebreak than him due to the win over the direct encounter. I was facing Tim at last round.
Tim was very quiet. The way he was playing, so fast and so sure of himself, made me think that he prepared a tricky variation against me, so I went for secondary moves to avoid the line he prepared. Finally, I beat him in the endgame. I was clear first!
I finally got the FM title! But I still must get to 2100 FIDE, which isn’t far away. I was very proud of my performance!
Little philosophical teaching: What we are happy about when we achieve one of our goals is not about the result, but about the time and effort that we spent into on achieving the goal. I was struggling to get the FM title at the Canadian Closed Chess Championship. Although I didn’t get it at the time, the effort I made through my daily training preparing for these two important tournaments finally paid off.
Solo:
Trophies:
Canadian players:
Bughouse at midnight:
Shawn, me and David:
The only photo at board: photo credit to Victoria D.:
With friends: