Bronze in Montreal

We have just returned from the North American Youth Championship, held this year in Montreal, and after winning Gold in the Under-14 section in Mexico last year, I was now playing Under-16. The last time I went to Montreal was nearly 10 years ago, but I do not remember anything from that visit. This trip, most of my time was spent in the hotel, playing hall, or in Chinatown, so I didn’t see too much of the city again. At least I made up for it by finishing in clear third place for the Bronze, and was the highest placed American in my section!
We arrived at about 5PM on August 15th, the evening before the event started and teammate Anna Matlin’s birthday. That night a few of us met in the lobby and ate cake to celebrate…though of course, being chess players, we had to play some blitz as well. Two Russian Canadians joined us, and it turned out that Roman Sapozhnikov and Alexander Martchenko were the highest rated in the U16 and U18 sections, respectively. While Andrew Ng and I were finishing our blitz game, Roman and Alexander were talking in Russian about how rude Andrew and I were for not pulling up a chair for Anna, and that they should do so themselves. Anna decided to save them the trouble and got one for herself, and shortly afterwards they realized that she had understood everything they said!
In the U16, there were 6 Americans, out of a total of 23 players. It turned out that the U16 section was the deepest in strength in the entire event, with almost all the highest rated Canadians in the age group participating. As they were ranked based on Canadian ratings, which mostly seemed to be around 200 points higher than FIDE, they dominated the initial rankings.
In the first round I won, fairly uneventfully, but my opponent definitely played much stronger than his +1300 rating. In the second, I was playing Arthur Calugar, second seed (rated 2399) and on top board, since Roman had lost a long battle with Michael Chiang in his first game. Out of the opening I got a very good position, as Arthur played right into a line I knew very well, but later I played rather badly and ending up losing. The third round was similar to the first with a relatively easy win, but the fourth round brought more bad news, as I messed up in the Sozin and lost to Nikita Kraiouchkine (rated 2324). We had played once before in Vermont, about 5 years ago, and he beat me there, too! However, I came back and won the next 3 rounds, including a final round win over the fifth seed, Michael Kleinman (2299), to finish 5/7 and a respectable 3rd place, while Arthur and Nikita, the number two and three ranked Canadians, took Gold and Silver respectively .
Americans won 75% of the Gold’s and many other trophies with our large contingent of around 50 players, and had 4 perfect scores, including Anna who can consider it an extra birthday present. After the tournament there was a well attended blitz event, which Victor Shen won, with 7/8 after beating Andrew Ng in the final 2 games. Roman Sapozhnikov and Arthur Shen finished tied second. However, I didn’t stay to play, as my family was heading up to Quebec for a day of sightseeing, which we enjoyed. The Fikiets told us that next time we should go in the winter to see the Ice Festival there, which is supposed to be a magnificent sight; hopefully we get to enjoy it sometime!

Final Reflections on Brazil with Chess Campeona

1. What did you learn from the experience you lived in the Pan American
Youth

I learned a lot about chess in general from the coaches and going
over my games and the mistakes I made.

2. How many points did you win and what FIDE titles did you earn in this

event?

5.5 points out of 9, but no title.

3. For those that have never participated in a Pan American Youth, Describe
to us what you felt emotionally, mentally, and physically during the event?

Physically, I got sick halfway through the tournament, which
probably did not help too much with my play. Emotionally and mentally, I
just tried to keep myself focused and not linger too much on the ways I
could have done better in the games I messed up in and instead save it for
after the tournament was done.

4. When you returned to your country, were you given a party? Did someone
from your federation or association call you? Anyone?

No party. However, a few friends did contact me asking
how I did.

5. What national and international tournaments are next for you?

Well tomorrow, I'm heading off to the North American Youth Chess
Championships in Montreal. Usually I don't have two tournaments so close
together, but let's hope it just means that I'm sharp and ready to keep
playing.

6. What did you realize in this Pan American Youth that you need to work on
most?

Probably my focus and concentration. Sometimes I get good positions
and then just mess them up with one move. Also, sometimes I misevaluate
positions, which I calculate well, but then misjudge the final position I
reach.

7. For 3 weeks, www.chesscampeona.com, has been following you prior,
during and after your Pan American Youth participation, what did you like
about this project?

It brought three different people from countries together who all
shared a common bond in chess.

8. What would you like to tell our readers?

I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to participate in this
project and for everyone who followed our progress and cheered us on.

The Cat

The journey home from Bento Goncalves was as straightforward as could be expected, and yet as tiring and painful as could be expected. We made it to the familiarity of our house at 5-something on Monday evening, maybe 27 hours after setting off from the hotel, which was quicker than the outward journey, but by 8pm I was on a pre-committed 2-hour conference call with China. Tuesday and today have been hectic work days wrapping up month end and other projects, and only now can I draw breath, see what is going on around me, and re-engage with the rest of the family. I am glad to be back, and I am glad it is summer time. The Placencia family told me they were staying in southern Brazil another three days to visit the Bento Goncalves and Porto Allegre region, so they are probably just travelling home now as I write this.
I look at Stuart, and it is as though he has not been anywhere. He is back in the armchair that I had never seen him use before this summer, but which has become his daytime home during this school holidays. We traveled back from the hotel to Porto Allegre and on to Sao Paulo with Aviv Friedman, our Chief of Delegation, and it was nice to have a little more time to get to know him better. In Porto Allegre airport, Aviv shared with me his perspective on Stuart, which was something like this – “he is like a cat; it does not matter what events or circumstances may knock him over, he always lands on his feet and continues on his way”. Nothing really troubles him, he keeps an even temperament, and even if he is upset by a defeat or by sickness, both of which he had to deal with in Brazil, he re-composes himself quickly and gets on to the next task at hand. Being back home is an easy acclimatization for him.
Stuart normally plays one weekend chess tournament over the board each month. Right now, he has just played for six consecutive days, and before going to Brazil, he decided to sign up for the North American Youth Championships in Montreal as well. This runs Monday to Thursday next week, so I have recommended that he go easy on the chess these intervening days, mainly looking at the lessons he can learn from his own games last week. From what I have seen, he has been reading science fiction and playing internet scrabble, and at the current time, I think that is fine.
We have but a few days here, but we are re-energizing……
Steven, August 11th

Wrapping up Bento Goncalves

Yesterday was a day for a little bit of chess, but a lot more camaraderie. First the chess played out its due course, though as the coaches had forewarned, most of the results had been cast the previous day. Tommy sailed on to his Gold medal, to give us all something to cheer loudly at the Closing Ceremony, Evan won her game to be our top scorer with 8 points out of 9, yet incredibly had to settle for Silver, and Jonathan put behind him the tears of falling short a day earlier to get Bronze and give us a complete set. Every member of Team USA finished with a positive score. We had three 4th place finishers, Vignesh in Open U-10, Ellen in Girls U-14, and Adarsh in the Open U-16. In what was a reasonably good day for the team, the biggest heartbreak was probably Yang, who lost for the second game in a row to fall out of the medals in Girls U-18. Everyone else finished pretty much as expected, with Stuart having one of his quickest wins of the week, to finish in ninth place with 5.5 points and a tournament performance rating just over FIDE 2100. In summary, his results reflected his rating, if not the opportunities he created for himself.
Once the games were done, Team USA ventured off to a churrascaria for lunch. It was the kind of team bonding experience that you like to think in theory would be good earlier in the week, but sometimes you need shared experience of adversity to rally people together. And so it was, that when the cry went up: “Does anyone really want to eat rice and beans again?!” the whole team fell immediately into line behind Aviv, and a quickly-organized procession of five taxis took us to the nominated restaurant.
Chris’ mom organized the boys and girls onto separate tables, with the long table reserved exclusively for adults. It was quickly apparent that Aviv is a churrascaria expert and connoisseur, and capable of consuming huge amounts of meat at a frightening pace! Besides the usual array of cuts of beef, chicken, lamb, etc, we had a little more unusual fair, including rabbit and sliced chicken hearts, which Justus’ mom ordered her son not to try! I ate enough food for several days, and still felt woefully inadequate sitting next to Aviv. It was fun to unwind together.
It never fails to amaze me that these kids, whom I always expect to have had enough of xadrez (Portuguese for chess – I have learned something!) after a tournament like this, will happily finish the tournament then spend the rest of the day playing chess for fun. And so it was when we got back to the hotel – the boys and girls happily set up their boards while parents hung out, or in my case, scrambled to get some work finished. A happy buzz of relief and relaxation pervaded the lobby areas, interspersed with occasional shrieks of laughter, as other nations did similar things. A love of the game unites these children across cultures and across language barriers. As I write this now, waiting for the bus back to the airport, Stuart and Tommy are cheerfully playing again with four other boys whose nationality I don’t know, and whose nationality does not matter. I guess it is chess’ small contribution to world peace.
A question in my mind was, “where will they hold the Closing Ceremony?” No room was remotely big enough. However, not everyone is used to the amount of personal space that we have in the US, and it did not seem to be an issue that a few hundred people could fit into a room where maybe sixty had played earlier in the week. Too claustrophobic for me, I squeezed through the doorway briefly to shout for Tommy at the appointed time (I heard his name, but could not see him, of course), took a picture of the crowds, and escaped again.
After the thankfully brief melee called the Closing Ceremony, Vignesh’s father and I tried to organize a tour of the local area for this morning. I take my hat off to him for his persistence, as we tied up the one English-speaking hotel staff member for an inordinate amount of time, while she tried to find someone who could help us. The problem was that today is Father’s Day in Brazil (are you reading this Stuart?), and apparently no-one wants to work on such a day, even Jefferson, the one English-speaking driver seemingly in a thousand mile radius, who came highly recommended after taking Justus’ mom for a tour earlier in the week. The lady from the hotel went above and beyond any reasonable lengths to help us – we certainly cannot say people here have not been friendly – and eventually found someone she knew personally to take us out today.
By now the Bottomless Stomachs, a.k.a. the children, were ready to eat again, and Adarsh’s mom lead a smaller group of eight of us out to a local pizzeria. We walked past the first four to try the fifth one, and put our names down for the 15 minute wait, but this place was deemed unacceptable because it seemed to be a kind of Italian version of dim sum, rather than giving you the opportunity to order exactly what you wanted off a menu. Let me say that behind the bright smile and the slight frame, Adarsh’s mom is a lady who knows her mind, and has her standards and principles, rather like my boss at home. By the time we had worked our way back and each of the other pizza places had also been deemed unsuitable for one reason or another, I feared mutiny amongst the party, but eventually we finished the evening in the small café at the hotel, with burgers and fries for the kids, and the smallest bite of a sandwich for the grown-ups.
The parents called it a night and went off to sleep, while some of the kids continued to play blitz. It had been a long, long day, and the tournament was already a distant memory.
Steven, August 8th

And now, the end is near

I for one am glad that today will be the last day. It has been a long, long week, and when you don’t feel well, the familiarity of home is all the more appealing. The final round started just a few moments ago, with Team USA having a number of strong medal chances. Special mention goes to Tommy He alone at the top of the U-10 Open on 7 points, and Evan Xiang also with 7 points tied at the top of the Girls U-12 and essentially assured of Silver, but behind the leader on tie breaks. Yang starts today in third place in U-18 Girls and could still win any of the medals. Ellen is in fourth place in U-14 Girls and will need to beat the leader to probably take Silver, but she comes into the round with a US team-leading five straight wins behind her. Jonathan is third in U-10 Open and will almost certainly medal, but Vignesh starts sixth and will likely fall just short. Justus starts in sixth in the U-12 Open, but by my estimate is likely to win and still finish fourth. Sarah and John have to play each other in U-14 Open, but neither of them, nor Hannah in U-10 Girls, despite fighting performances, will finish in the medal positions.
So that leaves the three Musketeers in the U-16 Open. The Gold has already been wrapped up, with FM Oscar Enrique Zavarce from Venezuela sitting on 7.5 points, a full 1.5 points clear of his nearest rival. His rating is below that of any of the three US entrants, and shows how open a field this has been. The opportunity was there for all of them, but congratulations are due to Oscar for playing a fantastic tournament. Adarsh is on 5.5 and could still get a minor medal, but there are three boys ahead of him on 6.0, so it is not really in his hands. Chris and Stuart are playing for their pride, the team, and to protect rating points, as both are on 4.5.
Forty-eight hours ago, I would never have thought it would end this way. Stuart only has one point out of the last four (how is it he still manages to be on Board 6!), Adarsh 1.5, and Chris 2.0. In Round Eight last night, Chris won but Adarsh was beaten, and then Stuart reappeared for the Armen post-mortem. I’ll cut him some slack because he has definitely been under the weather these past couple of days, but Armen’s conclusion of the review needs no further explanation: a deep sigh, a shake of the head “You had so many chances to win; you had just as many chances to draw. You lost this game??” There was no great emotion at this stage, more like a feeling of resignation in the air that the final chance of even a minor medal had now gone. The ironic thing is that before we came over here, the general advice was that the Latin Americans were not known for their precision in the end game. As it happens, from what I can glean as a non-playing parent, Stuart has outplayed 7 of his 8 opponents (only losing Round 6 out of the opening), but has lost two and drawn one from winning positions in the end game. Some food for thought when we get back home.
We had a fairly quick and quiet dinner, then slumped into our respective beds last night, and it was as though our winter sicknesses merged – coughing and sneezing, blowing and wheezing from both sides. Eventually and thankfully, Stuart went to sleep, until some guy outside with more horsepower under his car hood than between his ears started revving up his engine, so then the coughing started up again. The night before there had been a cavalcade of vehicles blowing their horns late in the night – I thought it was a wedding celebration, but I was told yesterday it was something much more important than that: a soccer victory (this is Brazil, remember!) At least last night’s interruption did not last so long.
Steven, August 7th

In Sickness and in Health

How quickly things can change. Yesterday morning Stuart was close to the mountain top, and almost in sight of the Promised Land, but two losses in one day made him the weak link in Team USA, and he finished almost back in mid-table at 3.5 out of 6. In the evening game he found himself in unfamiliar territory in the Opening, made an incorrect decision over the Board, and essentially was lost very early on, without a chance to compare ‘pure’ chess ability. From time to time that happens to most kids – it takes time to build an extensive understanding of Opening theory – and we need to put it in perspective.
Stuart was fairly unperturbed about the game. He knew he had blown any last chance of winning his Section, and he knew his result was a let-down for the team, but he also knew it was not because he had failed to execute properly something for which he was prepared. He made his best judgment call at the time, it was incorrect, and he has learned from it.
He was actually getting more concerned for his health. He had started to develop a sore throat during the afternoon between rounds, and this was getting worse. Not quite, it seems, the same thing that is afflicting me, so I don’t think I need to beat myself up over this, but definitely a concern. During the night this translated into a huge coughing fit at 2am, followed by vomiting all over the bed. We got him cleaned up, changed the sleeping arrangements, and went back to bed with increasing concern on my part for Day 5.
Stuart is normally a fairly bright ‘morning person’, but not today. He seemed very groggy, and it was all I could do to persuade him to at least eat a little breakfast to provide some energy for the games ahead. In normal circumstances I would feel for his opponent if he was coming in after two straight defeats, but this time I was concerned for Stuart. All I could do was to encourage him to do the best he could, for himself and for the team.
For the second time in a row he had a very quick game, reappearing in the room within two hours with a wan smile on his face. Still not healthy, still not bouncing with energy, but happy that he had played a nice game and won in relatively short order. That gets him back to a respectable 4.5 points, and gives him some time to rest for this evening.
Steven, August 6th

Any Loss is a Tough Loss

While Stuart is still holding up well, his father is beginning to unravel a little. The sudden change from mid-summer to mid-winter is starting to play on my chest, and as each night goes by I get less and less sleep on the hard beds. The first night I could have slept anywhere, under any conditions, but now the nights are long and I am not waking refreshed.
The tournament itself is not that long, indeed fitting nine rounds into six days is quite a tough schedule, but from the perspective of the parents the unrelenting sameness of everything day by day really drags. Time is measured by how far we have got through the meal coupon book, which must be something like the ration books of wartime Europe. Breakfast is the same every day; lunch and dinner are both rice and beans and salad, with a couple of meat or fish dishes, usually only one of which Stuart can eat. It is like going to a school canteen three times a day.
For the first time this morning, I felt somewhat nervous. By winning last night, Stuart had put himself in the situation where the outcome of his tournament was still squarely in his hands. He started this morning on Board 2 with 3.5 points, while the two perfect 4’s faced off next to him. If he won this game and then won in the evening, he would have a good chance of sitting alone atop the leader board. But if he got 0 out of 2 today, he would likely need to be faultless through the final three rounds to have a chance of a minor medal. He was playing up around 100 points against the Columbian who downed Chris last night.
The initial results were generally ok. Though Hannah lost, the three U-10 boys, Tommy, Jonathan and Vignesh, who are the livewires of the team, all won and sit nicely at the top of their section. But from then on, things took a turn for the worse. In quick succession our three previously perfect players, Justus, then Evan, then Adarsh, came back to report their defeats. Adarsh was at least able to report that Chris was clearly winning, and Stuart might win too. Sometimes false hope is the hardest thing, as both of them ultimately lost, as, finally, did Sarah. Ellen, Yang Dai, and John won their games, John in U-14 now sitting with Tommy and Jonathan as our current top performers on 4.5 out of 5, but nevertheless, it was a very poor 6 out of 13 for the team.
As Chris’ mom said before Chris and Stuart reappeared, it is easy for the winners to come back and show off their games, but for those who have just lost, it takes real inner bravery to come immediately back to the coaches and have their every mistake shown in harsh relief in front of the whole team. Indeed, the coaches do not mince words – example Armen to Adarsh a few moments earlier: “so you would rather have a slightly worse position than an even one!” Chris had a win until very close to the end, and was visibly very upset at having thrown the game away. It was less easy to read Stuart, who frankly was behind most of the way. I mentioned yesterday that he was upset with me for commenting on his throwing away the win in his drawn game, so I decided it was better to keep quiet this time. It is easier to be circumspect when he did not have any winning chances.
So now we pick up the pieces. All three of the U-16 boys are playing slightly down this evening, so though they need to respect their opponents, they need not fear them. In fact, as we knew from the outset, there is no player in the section who should be feared by any of them, and even at this stage about half the field could still medal. We unwound over lunch then came back to the room, where Stuart settled into his latest science fiction novel for a while. When he was younger he may have needed a dose of parental affection at times like this, but I need to know and respect that now he is old enough to figure what preparation works for him, so I went for a walk.
On my return he was noticeably cheerier, and had spent a little time looking at his next opponent’s games as white earlier in the tournament. It also helped that I brought him back a small soy chocolate bar, having found a lady in the supermarket who spoke English, and could steer me away from the products which would hurt him.
So, now the games are underway ……….
Steven, August 5th