Unrated tournament (1/02/2011, 12 pm - 3:30 pm) at Spicewood Elementary

Time:
Sunday, January 2nd 2011, 12 pm - 3:30 pm

Location:
Spicewood Elementary (pavilion - northwest corner of the playground)
11601 Olson Dr.
Austin, TX 78750

Details:
An unrated chess tournament open to everyone, but seating is limited to the first 36. Send email to nam67@yahoo.com to reserve the seat.
One section: not USCF rated, 5SS G/15 (with 3s delay).

Entry fee: Free.

Prizes: Trophies and medals to top finishers.

Please bring your chess set & clock if possible.

For more information, contact Nam Nguyen (nam67@yahoo.com, 512-786-9242) or Jenwei Hsieh (p0pp0r@yahoo.com, 512-560-2760)

2010 National K-12 Championships - Results

Congratulations to the following Austin Kids who competed in the 2010 National K-12 Championships (10-12 December 2010 · Lake Buena Vista, Florida):

Andrew Jacob: 6th Grade - 11th Place
Rohit Kaliyur: 8th Grade - tied for 10th Place
Shreyes Kaliyur: 3rd Grade - U1200 2nd Place

Click here for the complete results.

Austin Kids #13 - Results

We had a nice turnout of 53 players.

Congratulations to the winners:

Vasfi Gucer: 1st place - Open section.
Duy Nguyen, Herb Baumann, Jonathan Manion, Andrew Jacob, Khoa Nguyen, Mike Ingram, and Kevin Li (1st place - U1700): tied for 2nd place - Open section.
Sarah Manion, Arjun Devireddy (1st place - U1050), and Louis Fernandes (Biggest Upset prize for defeating a opponent 514 points stronger): tied for 1st place - U1400 section.
Doru Gucer: 1st place - U900 section.
Victoria Ryan, Kayhaun Ahmadian, and Erik Hanson: tied for 2nd place - U900 section.
Raj Kohli: 1st place U600 - U900 section.
Annie Xia, Jonathan Darmawan, and Samual Tian: tied for 1st place Unrated - U900 section.
Vasfi/Doru: 1st place Parent/Child team.
Michael Darmawan: winner of the Puzzles Solving competition.












Click here for the USCF cross-table.

Each of the winner should receive a chess prize. Please send Nam Nguyen (nam67@yahoo.com) an email if you have not picked up your prize.

Austin Kids #13 (12/04/2010, 12 pm – 6 pm) at the Austin Chinese Education Services

Time:
Saturday, December 4th 2010, 12 pm - 6 pm

Location:
Austin Chinese Education Services
13581 Pond Spring Road, Suite 200
Austin, TX 78729

Details:
A one-day tournament for all ages.

Open section: USCF rated, 3SS G/60.
U1400 section: USCF rated, 4SS G/45.
U900 section: USCF rated, 5SS G/30.
In the Open and U1400 sections, we will subtract 5 minutes when using a delay clock.

Entry fee: $5.

Registration: send email to nam67@yahoo.com for pre-registration. Without the pre-registration email, an additional $5 fee will be charged. On-site registration starts at 11:45 am. Players may be required to take a half-point bye if registered after 12 pm.

Side event: Chess Puzzles Solving competition.

Prizes: A trophy or a chess prize (clock, book, software, or magnetic chess set...) to the 1st place finisher in each section, the winner of Chess Puzzles Solving competition, the biggest upset in the tournament, and the 1st Parent/Child team.

Please bring your chess set & clock if possible.

For more information, contact Nam Nguyen (nam67@yahoo.com, 512-786-9242) or Jenwei Hsieh (p0pp0r@yahoo.com, 512-560-2760)

Fundraising for Emily Nguyen to the 2010 World Youth Chess Championships

Emily Nguyen has been selected to be on the US Youth Chess team to participate in the 2010 World Youth Chess Championships (Halkidiki - Greece, Oct 19-31 2010). This is a great honor for Emily to wear the red/blue/white uniform representing the US Under-8 Girls and to be the first World Youth team member from the Austin area.  It is also a wonderful opportunity for her to play against other top chess players her age around the world. Being the 3rd-ranked member in the team, Emily does not get free meals/lodging from the organizer nor travel stipend from the USCF. The expense for the trip runs about $2500 per person.


The Austin Chess Community has been offering tremendous support and encouragement. A lot of discussions and ideas have been brought up to raise money for the trip.  Emily has received $1724 so far:

Texas Chess Association: $600

• Received $600 from Barbara Swafford on 9/3/10

Austin Chess Club and its members: $414

• $25: Received from Lori Balkum in 06/10
• $25: Received from Dale McLemore on 8/1/10
• $304: Received from Drew Sarkisian on 10/4/10
• $60: Received from Lori Balkum on 10/10/10

Austin Kids Chess Club members: $305

• Austin Kids #10: $75
• Austin Kids #11: $230

Rocks & Rooks Chess Club: $275

• Chess tournament at NYOS: $110 (Received  from Gary Gaiffe on 9/15/10)
• Chess tournament at Baranoff Elementary: $165

The Salvation Army: $100

• Austin Kids #8: $30
• Austin Kids #9: $40
• Austin Kids #10: $30

Laurel Mountain Chess Club members: $30

• $30: Received from Binny Nanavati on 9/15/10

We would like to thank the Austin Chess Community (Lori Balkum, Binny Nanavati, Peter Kappler, Gary Gaiffe, Drew Sarkisian, Jenwei Hsieh, Adrian Diaz, and others) and the Texas Chess Association for your wonderful support; it is greatly appreciated.

RRISD Students Winning at the 14th Annual Texas Grades & Collegiate Chess Championships - by Huy Nguyen

RRISD Students Winning at the 14th Annual Texas Grades & Collegiate Chess Championships

Over 600 students from across Texas gathered to Brownsville this past weekend November 13-14 for the 14th Annual Texas Grades & Collegiate Chess Championships. In this state championship tournament, the students played in the sections according to their grades. Our RRISD had a group of students participating in the tournament, and they all came back as winners in their grade sections.

Anh Nguyen, Cactus Ranch Elementary School, 3rd Place Trophy in Kinder
Helen Le, Laurel Mountain Elementary School, 8th Place Trophy in Kinder
Dang Nguyen, Cactus Ranch Elementary School, 2nd Place Trophy in 2nd Grade
Collin Le, Laurel Mountain Elementary School, 3rd Place Trophy in 2nd Grade
Emily Nguyen, Laurel Mountain Elementary School, 1st Place Trophy in 3rd Grade
Shreyes Kaliyur, Spicewood Elementary School, 6th Place Trophy in 3rd Grade
Khoa Nguyen, Cactus Ranch Elementary School, 3rd Place Trophy in 4th Grade
Anthony Nguyen, Laurel Mountain Elementary School, 4th Place Trophy in 5th Grade
Duy Nguyen, Walsh Middle School, 1st Place Trophy in 6th Grade
Andrew Jacob, Canyon Vista Middle School, 4th Place Trophy in 6th Grade
Rohith Kaliyur, Canyon Vista Middle School, 5th Place Trophy in 7th Grade

Congratulations to all of the students and parents for their outstanding results!
They all make RRISD very proud!

Huy Nguyen
Cactus Ranch Chess Club Coordinator

Austin Kids #12 - Results

Click here for the USCF cross-table.

We had a record turnout of 75 players, and had to split the U900 into 2 rooms. There were quite a few new faces in the U900. Some came to the chess tournament for the first time. It was very nice to see a lot of kids so eager to play chess. The registration with a large number of players, some trying to get USCF membership in the last minute, was causing some delay. In the future, please help us ensure that everyone has valid USCF membership and has sent pre-registration email prior to the event. At the end of the day, everyone seemed to enjoy the day. My fatigue seemed to go away when parents asked me when the next event would be.




Congratulations to the winners:

Anthony Nguyen, Jonathan Manion, Michael Ingram, and William Liu: four-way tie for 1st place in the Open section.
Emily Nguyen and Niteka Raina: tie for U1600 - 1st place in the Open section.
Dang Nguyen: 1st place in the U1400 section with perfect score 4/4.
Steve Manion, Forrest Marler, and Dylan Dong: 3-way tie for 2nd place in the U1400 section.
Camille Kao and Louis Fernandes: tie for U1000 - 1st place in the U1400 section.
Ritik Goyal and Duru Gucer: tie for 1st place in the U900 section.
Eric Ingram, Shauhin Ahmadian, Abhishek Rao (Biggest Upset prize for defeating a opponent 683 points stronger), Venkat Alapati (unrated - 1st place prize), Vikas Burugu (U600 - 1st place prize), and Andrew Lu: 6-way tie for 2nd place in the U900 section.
Mike/Eric Ingram: 1st place Parent/Child team.
James Joh: winner of the Puzzles Solving drawing.
Ernest Fernandes: winner of the Puzzles Solving competition.

Each of the winner should receive a chess prize. Please send Nam Nguyen (nam67@yahoo.com) an email if you have not picked up your prize.

Austin Kids #12 (11/20/2010, 12 pm – 6 pm) at the Austin Chinese Education Services

Time:
Saturday, November 20 2010, 12 pm - 6 pm

Location:
Austin Chinese Education Services
13581 Pond Spring Road, Suite 200
Austin, TX 78729

Details:
A one-day tournament for all ages.

Open section: USCF rated, 3SS G/60.
U1400 section: USCF rated, 4SS G/45.
U900 section: USCF rated, 5SS G/30.
In the Open and U1400 sections, we will subtract 5 minutes when using a delay clock.

Entry fee: $5.

Registration: send email to nam67@yahoo.com for pre-registration. Without the pre-registration email, an additional $5 fee will be charged. On-site registration starts at 11:45 am. Players may be required to take a half-point bye if registered after 12 pm.

Side event: Chess Puzzles Solving competition.

Prizes: A trophy or a chess prize (clock, book, software, or magnetic chess set...) to the 1st place finisher in each section, the winner of Chess Puzzles Solving competition, the biggest upset in the tournament, and the 1st Parent/Child team.

Please bring your chess set & clock if possible.

For more information, contact Nam Nguyen (nam67@yahoo.com, 512-786-9242) or Jenwei Hsieh (p0pp0r@yahoo.com, 512-560-2760)

Emily's trip to the 2010 World Youth Championships - by Nam Nguyen

The official website with daily results/pairings: http://wycc2010.chessdom.com/u8-girls/.

10/19
We left our house at 9 am on Mon and by the time we checked into the hotel, it was almost 9 am on Tue in Texas. After 4 flights and a long bus ride, everyone was a little bit tired. Our baggages would not be here until tomorrow. When we arrived in Vienna, someone left an unattended bag right at our gate causing security issue that prevented us from using that gate. After a long delay, we were asked to get on a bus to get into the airport via a bus gate. We ran to our departure gate for Thessaloniki and barely made it, but our baggages did not make the connection flight.

We had a team meeting with the US coaches and delegation. It was the largest US delegation with 104 persons including 40 players and 6 coaches; everyone had high spirit. The US delegation all stayed in this hotel. The U8 and U10 sections would play in this hotel and other sections would be in the Olympic Hall Congress Center, about 10 min walk from here. Emily and 5 other players were assigned to FIDE Senior Trainer Michael Khodarkovsky for coaching.

Emily ate well and could get some sleep. Hopefully, she would be ready for the first game tomorrow.

10/20
Emily woke up at midnight, did not go back to sleep until 2 am, but then slept straight to 10 am. We had to wake her up for breakfast and team meeting. She enjoyed breakfast, lunch, and looked quite ready for the first round. She worked on tactics for an hour after lunch and looked sharp.

She played Alina Beshukova from Russia in the first round. Alina finished 8th in the 2010 European Youth Chess Championships, U8-Girls section. The game took 3 hours and 45 min to finish and it was the last board in the section. We had the game analyzed with her coach. She played well and dominated but missed a few moves to finish it faster. Tomorrow would not be easier for Emily; she would play Gabriela Antova from Bulgaria. Gabriela was the 2010 European Youth Chess Champion, U8 Girl. Emily slept and ate well today. Our baggages with her favorite snacks/milk arrived today.

10/21
Last night, she woke up around midnight and could not get back to sleep until 3 am. We let her sleep until we woke her up at 12:25 pm. She skipped breakfast and the training session with her onsite coach. She had lunch, did 15 minutes of tactics, took a rest, and headed for the game.

She had some positional advantage with even materials but then suddenly made an uncharacteristic blunder and lost the game. It lasted only 1 hour and 30 minutes with 22 moves. I did not understand what happened. Perhaps the still irregular sleep pattern negatively affected her performance.

After the game, we had her game reviewed by an onsite coach. Then she went swimming and had dinner. We forced her to go to bed around 9:30 pm. She still woke up at midnight and had difficulties getting back to sleep.

10/22
We did not let her sleep until noon like we did yesterday; we woke her up at 8:30 am, had breakfast, and attended the preparation session with her coach. She had a few practice games with Anthony, read a book outside in fresh air, and took a nap at 12:30 pm.

We went to lunch at 1:30 pm and let Emily relax after that. She defeated Anezka Drastichova from the Czech Republic in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

After having her game reviewed by an onsite coach, we walked along the beach and had dinner. She enjoyed having dinner with Annie Wang and Joanna Liu, two of her teamates. They went to Joanna's room and played for 10 minutes. She went to bed at 9:30 pm but did not get to sleep until midnight.

10/23
She slept straight until 9:00 am when we woke her up. We had breakfast with Devina's family and then attended a 30-minute training with her coach. We walked to a small grocery store by the marina and purchased some water bottles and drinks. We walked along the beach enjoying fresh air and beautiful weather. We saw Joanna and her dad by the swimming pool. Emily and Joanna played together in the playground until 12:15 pm. We went back to our room so that she could take a short nap. We went to lunch at 1:30 pm and sat with Devina's and Joanna's families. The girls started to enjoy the friendship.

She defeated Shadan Babazadeh from Iran in round 4. The game lasted 3 hours and 5 minutes. She had dinner and went to bed at 9:30 pm.

10/24
For the first time since the trip, she slept soundly and woke up at 8:00 am. She looked very fresh. We had breakfast quickly and went to the tournament hall. There were 2 games today. The 5th-round game started at 9:00 am. She played Dominika Ferkova from Slovakia. She won the game in 1 hour and 30 min. We went along the beach. She played in the playground with Joanna, and then we went back to the room for a short rest. After lunch, she could nap for 30 min and headed for the second game. She played Joanna Swiech from Poland and won the game in almost 3 hours.

10/25
It was the break day. We woke up early around 8:00 am, had breakfast, and took a water taxi to a village nearby. Emily really enjoyed the trip with her new friends Annie, Devina, Joanna, and Angeli. She wrote her blog, played cards with her brother, and played in the playground in the afternoon. She went to bed around 9:30 pm.

10/26
She woke up early, had breakfast, and attended training. We went along the beach and she played with her friends Joanna/Samritha/Devina in the playground. We went back to the room so that she could take a rest. During lunch, she mentioned she was a little bit tired. She had a 15-min nap after lunch. She played Eszter Morvay from Slovakia. Emily lost the game in 3 hours. She failed to find a critical move that could have turned things around to her advantage.

10/27
She woke up early and was a little bit nervous. She was playing WFM Annie Wang, the official US representative in U8 Girls section, and the highest rated U8 girl in the US. She did not have training session today; It was customary that US coaches would not prepare players against their team-mates. Before the trip, I had gathered the games of top players in the section, including Annie's, and went over them with Mike Feinstein, one of her two coaches. I sent an email to her two coaches Mike Feinstein and Eugene Kohnitz to seek advice on the opening she was playing, and went over again with her with help from her brother Anthony. We made one adjustment. She was not allowed to play with the swings in the playground; we just walked along the beach and went to the marina. She played dodge ball with Anthony and other kids in the US delegation for 15 min and went to lunch. She took a 10-min nap, took a shower, and went to the tournament hall. She seemed confident enough to play Annie. She blundered a knight on move 19 and lost the game in 3 hours. In her games so far, she was even or had advantages going into the mid/end games. The problem was not with preparation. It was how to get her to focus on the games and play to her ability.

10/28
She seemed determined to win the remaining 3 games. She played Elena Badzgaradze from Russia in round 9. Yesterday, Anthony and I tried to come up with a system that helped her avoid blunders. 2 years ago, I had a set of 7 questions for her to ask herself; that seemed to work until this tournament. We came up with a simpler scheme. After the opponent's move, she had to remember Tue/Wed. "T" in Tue stood for "Threats" and "W" in Wed for "Weakness". Before her move, she had to remember Mon/Tue/Wed. "T" in Tue stood for "Tactics", "W" in Wed for "Weakness" (any weakness after her move), and "M" in Mon for "Move" (opponent's next move). We played 2 quick games with her applying the scheme, and she played fine quickly capilalzing on my bad moves. We also went over basic strategies on open file/diagonal, space advantage, weak pawn. lining up Rook/Bishop against opponent's King/Queen, and mobilizing pieces...

She played solidly, used tactics to win a pawn, and defeated the Russian in 4 hours. After the win, her standing moved up to 11th.

Her team-mate, Annie Wang, lost a game where she had clearly won and dropped out of the race for a medal. Annie's standing was 5th coming into the last round.

Medal contenders in the US team included:
U10 Open
Jefferey Xiong: 1st
Cameron Wheeler: 4th

U12 Open
Kayden Troff: 1st

U18 Open
Steven Zierk: 2nd

10/29
She played the second seed of the tournament, Saina Salonika with FIDE rating of 1342 from India. The game came down to Knight/Pawns end game with Emily's slight advantage in position. She could have opened up the King side, and brought the King out in order to win the game. However, she chose to play conservatively and the game ended with a draw. Her standing remained 11th after the game. The organizger made an announcement that they would give prizes to top 8. Emily was playing board 6 against Olga Badelko from Belarus tomorrow. A win would put her in 5th through 11th place, depending on the outcome of boards 1-7. Being in the top 8 would make her very happy. She was alert and energetic coming into the game knowing that she would fight to get to the top 8.

10/30
10 am: the last round started.

11:45 am: the 3rd board finished with an upset; Mahapatra Adyasa from India (7 pts) defeated Assel Serikbay from Kazakhstan (8 pts). The result was unfavorable to Emily. She could be only 6th through 11th with a win.

12:10 pm: Emily came out with a win. What a relief to us!!! Now, just had to wait on the results from boards 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7.

12:35 pm: board 2 was done with the result favorable to Emily. Eszter Morvay from Slovakia (8 pts) defeated the European Champ Gabriela Antova from Bulgaria. Emily secured 10th place or higher.

12:45 pm: board 1 finished with no upset. Yunshan Li from China defeated Aydin Ismayilzada. Emily moved up to 9th place or higher. We would need only 1 favorable result to move her up to 8th place.

12:50 pm: board 6 finished. Her team-mate Kaavya Ramesh lost to Ekaterina Goltseva from Russia. With Kaavya's loss, Emily could only be in 7th through 9th.

1:20 pm: board 5 was done. Annie Wang, Emily's team mate played White against Dominika Ferkova from Slovakia. Emily had played both and Annie was much stronger than Dominika. A win from Annie would help Emily secure 8th place or higher. A win from Dominika would also help Emily get 8th place or higher. Annie came out of the room with a sad face. She drew the game. NO!!! Emily could only be in 8th or 9th place.

Board 5 had finished earlier and I missed the result. I came to the Canadian delegation and asked for the result. It was unfavorable to Emily; Andrea Botez (6 1/2 pts) from Canada lost to Zantye Riddhi (7 pts) from India. With that, Emily would be in 9th place.

4:00 pm: the official results came out. Emily finished in 9th place. I had hoped that I made mistakes calculating the results, but that did not happen. She was very sad for being very close to getting a medal. We told her that finishing 9th in the World Youth Chess Championships was quite an accomplishment. She was OK later. She played soccer and made crafts with other kids in the US delegation.

6:00 pm: the closing ceremony started. They gave cups to 1st-3rd place finishers, and medals to 4th-8th place finishers. Emily finished 9th and just missed the medal by tie-breaks. She had 7.5 pts, same as her team mate Annie Wang who finished 6th. She played blitz and bughouse with Annie, Joanna, and her brother Anthony after dinner.

10/31
We took the 1:45 am bus to the airport. Our flight was at 4:50 am out of Thessoloniki to Zurich, New York, and then Austin. We were very happy with the trip. It was a great honor and opportunity for Emily. She gained a lot of experience playing chess with top players her age around the world. She also exchanged gifts and learnt more about the cultures and places where her opponents were from. She received from her opponents a lot of post cards and brochures about their cities. We wished we had brought some Austin post cards with us. Emily just brought bracelets with USA's on them to give her opponents.

Finishing 9th in the World Youth Championships was a great accomplishment for her. We would like to thank her coaches Mike Feinstein and Eugene Kohnitz for working on her chess skills, and the Austin Chess Community for continuous support before, during, and after the trip.

Hopefully, Austin would be able to send more young talents to the World Youth Chess Championships in the near future. Austin had the talents, the healthy environment, and the wonderful support from schools and parents.

Emily's trip to the 2010 World Youth Championships - by Emily Nguyen

The US delegation



My team mates in the U8 Girls section





10/19
First Day in Greece - The Plane Trip



We flew from Austin to Dallas. Then, we flew from Dallas to Frankfurt, for 9 hours. Then from Frankfurt, we flew to Vienna. Our last flight was from Vienna, Austria to Thessaloniki, Greece. From that airport, we took the bus to Porto Carras. It took a while to know our room number, 1002. 1002 is in the basement. Well, it looks like being in the basement is bad, but it's actually pretty good! We get a good view of the beach. So we could go outside and see the beach right in front of us. Also, outside, it had 2 sofas and 1 breakfast table. It also had 2 beach chairs. Inside, we got 2 bathrooms, 1 dinning table, 1 king-sized bed, 2 twin-sized beds, 2 TVs, and 1 work table with big lamp. The ceilings were painted dark blue. We went to the lobby, only me, my brother Anthony, and my dad because my dad wanted to have Internet. We were at the lobby for 1 hour. When my dad was done, we went back to the lobby for our USA team meeting. Then, we went to dinner. We ate dinner for one and a half hours. When we were done with dinner, we went back to the basement, took a shower, brushed our teeth, and went to bed.





10/20
The First Round

I woke up at 10:00 am today in Greek time. Yesterday night, I couldn't sleep very well because we slept at 2:30 pm American time. So, I'm not used to it yet. I slept until midnight, then I woke up, tossed and turned for 2 hours and finally slept at 2:00 am. We changed our clothes and went to breakfast. Breakfast was good. Then we went to the gift shop to buy a hair tier. Then we went back to our room to rest. After about an hour, we ate lunch. Lunch was good! I ate pasta and for dessert, I ate plums.

We checked pairings to see who I was playing for round 1. I was going to play a Russian girl named Alina Beshukova. My brother, who is always negative, said that Russian people are always tough. So, we went back to our room, and I relaxed outside on the couch for maybe about 5 min. Then, we went inside and it was 3:00 pm in Greece. The first round would start at 4:00 pm so I took a nap at 3:15 pm and woke up at 3:30 pm. We went back up to the lobby and went in the room to play chess. I played for 3 hours and 45 minutes and I won!





10/21
The Second Round

I woke up at 12:25 pm today in Greek time because still, I was not used to the time yet. The water was clear so we could see the fish in the water and there were lots of fish in the water. My brother and my dad were outside watching the fish. My dad came in and told me to wake up, brush my hair, change my clothes, and go outside. So I did what my dad told me and I went outside to see the fish. They were right! I could see the fish swimming! After about 10 minutes, we went back inside and my mom told me that I skipped breakfast and I skipped the training session. We went to lunch. I did some chess tactics for 15 minutes then I went back to sleep after lunch until 3:30 pm. I went to the lobby to play chess against Gabriela Antova from Bulgaria and too bad, I lost.





We went to our room, and my mom told me that we could swim. So me and my brother changed our clothes into our swimsuits, got 2 towels, and got our goggles. we went to the lobby, and went outside. We tried the swimming pool and the beach, but they were both too cold. So we went in the spa, because they had a swimming pool there. And cool! The swimming pool was like a hot tub! But the bad thing was that it had salt water.

10/22
The Third Round
Yesterday my dad and my friend's dad went to the casino. The casino was being held in a different hotel. My dad came home at midnight and the next morning my dad said that he won 70 Euro (European money) or 90 US dollars. My, Anthony, and my mom all said "Wow!". My dad said he set the alarm for 8:30 am because yesterday I woke up at 12:30 pm and missed breakfast. So we went to eat breakfast. After breakfast, we went to our chess coach's room because it was our time for training.



After training, we went back to our room and went outside and we read for 45 minutes. Then, I played some practice games with my brother Anthony and we went back inside.



He continued reading while I took a nap. We went to lunch after that. At about 2:30 pm, we went back to our room, got some rest, and played with our neighbors, all from the USA. After that, it was 3:45 pm, so we went to the place where we played chess and I played Anezka Drastichova from the Czech Republic.





After 1 hours 45 minutes, I came out and won! My brother and my dad played table tennis while my mom and I walked along the beach. We ate dinner, went back to our room, brushed our teeth, took shower, and went to bed. That night, my dad went to the casino to try to win more money and he won 150 Euro, 220 Euro in all. Wow!

10/23
The Fourth Round
This morning, I woke up at 9:00 am. I went to breakfast and went to my coach'es room for training for about 30 minutes. Today is the first time we went out of the hotel. My mom, my brother, and I were going to buy souvenirs. The owner of the shop was an old lady and my mom found a purse for 10 Euros. The old lady told us and my mom did something not very nice. She said, "8 Euros and it's a deal." My brother said, "Mom, she was just an old lady who gave us things for free and that was not very nice!" When we got back to the hotel, my mom laughed and said she would go back to the store and apologize. That was a funny day. Now back to chess. I was playing Shadan Babazadeh from Iran.





It took me almost 4 hours but I managed to win. My brother also got to play some games of ping-pong. It was a good, funny, inordinary day.

10/24
The Fifth and Sixth Rounds
Today we were going to play two games because it was the day before break day. We woke up early because one game was at 9:00 am. We got ready for the game. I was going to play a Slovakian girl, Dominika Ferkova.



This game was really short. I won! I had 4 out of 5 points. We went to lunch, ate, and got ready for the next round. We got to go on the play-ground. Then the next round came. The girl I was playing was Joanna Swiech from Poland.





Achoo! This time it took 3 hours to defeat her! 5 out of 6 in 11 games was a a good chance to land in the top 3. My brother, my mom, my dad, and I were really happy. We went to the playground for about 30 minutes, after that it was pretty dark, so we went back inside to review and analyze my game. Then we went to dinner. After dinner, we took a bath, brushed our teeth, and went to bed.

10/25
The Break Day
Yes! Today is break day. And you know what it means! No playing chess!!! Yay!!! We started off on our break day by waking up at 8:00 am. Then, we went to breakfast for about 1 hour. Then, we went to the playground for 30 minutes. We went back to our room to wait for my friends Annie Wang and Joanna Liu to come so we could go on the water taxi to the village. After 5 minutes, Annie and Joanna came. We went outside to the dock so we would get on the water taxi.



After we got to the village, we went to a whole bunch of shops that I could not remember them. My mom bargained again and at each store she got at least 10% off. At least, it was a good deal. We bought a lot of stuff and at the end my mom told my dad: "You have to go back to the casino again tonight" because my dad always got some money when he went to the casino. My mom said, "We need more money because we shopped a whole bunch today." Today was a relaxing and wonderful day.



10/26
The Seventh Round
5 more rounds to go! Yay! But too bad break day was over because yesterday we had a lot of fun!

This morning, we woke up at 8:30 am. Then, we went down to breakfast. At 10:00 am, we went to room #1353 for my session of chess training for 30 minutes. After that, we went back to our room to train a little bit more on the opening I was going to play against my opponent. My opponent was going to be Eszter Morvay from Slovakia but she lives in the USA. When we were done training with the opening, I was going to play. We went to the playground for about 10 minutes, then we walked to Sithonia, another hotel in Porto Carras. We went to the playground there but the swings were full, so we went to the gift shop inside to see what they had. We bought a little bit gum and some candy. Then, we went back to Meliton (our own Porto Carras hotel) to have lunch. After lunch, we went back to our room to rest.

At 3:45 pm, we went to the chess room in the tournament hall. It lasted 3 hours and I lost. We reviewed the game, went to dinner, went back to our room, and went to bed. :-(





10/27
The Eighth Round

Today we woke up around 8:30 am and my dad told me that I was playing the #1 from the USA! I wanted to play with her in other tournaments because she was really tough. After we got ready, we went to breakfast. Since I was playing someone from the USA, there was not any training. After breakfast, we went back to our room for my dad to train me on the openings we thought Annie was going to play and what moves I was going to play against that. After the chess training, we went outside to play, but it started to rain so we went back inside to nap. Then, we heard a whole bunch of voices outside the hall. My dad went out to see what was happening outside. After my dad saw what was happening, he told us to come outside. We saw everybody in the basement from the USA playing dodgeball in the hall. My brother and I went outside to play with them. After that, we went to lunch, took a break, played our game, and I lost.





10/28
The Nineth Round

Last night, there was a thunder storm. This morning, there was no power for the whole town. When I woke up, my mom and dad told me to look outside in the ocean. I did and and guess what I saw in the water: broken trees, mud, broken pieces from the boats, and bamboo sticks. After that, we went outside to look at it up-close. While we were doing that, our neighbors came outside. There was a dog on their sofa. They wanted to play with the dog. Our neighbors named the dog Shaggy. We played with them (including Shaggy) for about 20 minutes. Then, we went to breakfast, went to training, rested, and went to lunch. After lunch, we went outside to our deck. We heard a lot of voices and some screaming. We looked to the right and saw our neighbors having a pillow fight. We joined in the pillow fight. We had a pillow fight for about 10 minutes outside, then one of the neighbors found some bamboo sticks. She handed us each one stick, and we started to fight with them until my mom came out and told us to come inside, and we did. I took a shower. We went to the tournament room because it was time. I was playing Elena Badzgaradze from Russia. After 4 hours, I won. I was so happy and glad because I did not make any blunders; usually when I played long, I made a blunder.





10/29
The Tenth Round

Last night, my dad told me I was playing Saina Salonika from India because when he came back from the lobby to check the pairings, I was still awake. She was FIDE rated. It meant she had defeated other FIDE rated players. When we woke up and got ready, we went to breakfast. Then, we went to training. After training, we went to the playground for 1 hour, then we went to lunch. After lunch, we went back to our room, took a nap, and we walked along the beach. Then, we went to the toy store, but there was nothing there. We went back to the basement, took a shower, got prepared, and went to the tournament hall. After 3 hours and 45 minutes, I came out with a draw. I was very happy.





10/30
The Eleventh Round

Today was the last round. I did not know if that was good or bad. Today's game started at 10 am and it was going to end at around 2 pm. The award ceremony was going to start at 6 pm. My dad said if I won, I was going to get 8th place and get a prize. I was going to play Olga Badelko from Belarus. I had no idea where Belarus was. All I knew was that this round was going to be tough. My dad told me that Belarus was in Europe. We went to breakfast and went to play chess. It lasted over 2 hours and I .... WON!!! We were all so happy because I was going to get a prize. We went up to our room. My dad came up to our room and told us I got 9th place because there were too many upsets. I was a little upset. The rest of the day went great.