Silver medal at World Youth

Day 12 Antalya: Round 10

Round 10, I played with Saydaliev Saidakbar from Uzbekistan. It was a crazy game that followed a wild see-saw. In the end, I was able to get half point making up for the heartfelt loss the day before.

Tomorrow will be the finishing scene of this battle of the best players from all over the world with round 11. Watch it live beginning at 10am local time.

Wish me luck!

Day 11 Antalya: Round 9

I played with Aryan Gholami from Iran. That was my fourth Iranian opponent in 9 rounds. It was a good game until I blundered and lost. I was offered draws several times during the game but I declined.
See the game here.

Anyway I think I have good chances with two more rounds to go. Round 10 will be available live on the official tournament website.

Day 10 Antalya: Round 8

I played with Shi Yuan Zhao from China. It was a tiring day with a long game. With this win I have 7 out of 8.

Our camera is not working so the pictures will be from our iPhone.
Watch the game 9 live tomorrow at 3pm local time.


On official tournament website, go to Live Games
Click on Ataturk Stadium (12 games, under 10 and 8)

Round 7 WYCC 2009, Antalya

In round 7, I played with Evgenios Ioannidis from Greece. We were on board 2, it was shown live on tournament website.

I am currently at 6 out of 7 with four more rounds to go. My next game would be shown live as well.

Go to Live Games http://wycc2009.tsf.org.tr/content/view/10/11/lang,turkish/
Click on Ataturk Stadium (12 games, under 10 and 8)

Things we did on free day

We took a trip to Antalya city for a day of fun. Samritha's dad took the initiative to arrange a small bus tour. On the trip we had parents and my fellow teammates: Samritha, Alisha, Winston, Sai (Samritha's younger brother), Annie and Alec Getz.

First we went to see waterfalls and caves. I found caves very interesting and we climbed high and deeper inside them. One of the cave was behind the water fall. Felt like a scene from Indian Jones movie. We also met Michael Brown and David Adelberg there. Michael and I were ahead of the pack in climbing to the top. Some pictures:

This was the biggest fall and the most beautiful

With my dad in front of the waterfall. There were other smaller falls too.

Leading my friends to the caves

We all climbing up the caves

With Annie Wang

After this we all went to a small market. This market a lots of nice hand made chess sets. Winston and I played two games with local patzers and beat them handily. They were nice and gave us candies in return.

Sai, youngest of the lot but not to be left behind in any activity.

Later we went to the old Antalya city and I had a very good chicken sandwich. I saved some of that for my dinner too.

I was famished after all the climbing.

Later we saw a mosque from inside. It was nice and quiet.

An old mosque

After the trip my dad and I went to the beach. Overall fun and enjoyable day.

Half way through at WYCC 2009, Antalya

Rounds 3, 4 and 6 I played Nima Fendereski, Mohammad Amin Tabatabaei and Borna Derakhshani all from Iran. It is definitely a very strong contingent. Round 5 was with Anton Smirnov from Australia. Overall I have 5 out of 6 points and still in the hunt.

Our delegation had only two passes until yesterday so it was difficult to get in within first 10 minutes to take pictures. Now we have four so it should be easier to save some memories and share them.

Round 3 with Nima:

Round 5 with Anton:

Free day could not have come at a better time. I am looking forward to do some sight seeing and try some alternate food (maybe a Mcdonald's).

I also took some time to go for a refreshing walk on the beach and around the hotel. Some pictures...

Day 4 Round 2 WYCC 2009, Antalya

It was a crazy day with unstable Internet service and change of procedures. They did not allow anyone but the players to enter the playing hall until after the rounds started. The new zero tolerance rule by FIDE is being enforced. I am being cautious and get there 15 minutes before the round start time.

I played Dachi Donghvani from Georgia in round 2. It was nice game and I was able to trap his queen making it a short game. Below is the only picture we could get.

Later we went to the Italian restaurant for dinner. Alisha and her dad were there too so we had dinner together. Unfortunately the food was disappointing. Well the company made up for the lack of quality food and it was okay overall.

Round 3, I will be black against an Iranian player.

Day 3 Round 1 WYCC 2009, Antalya

In round 1 I played with Bora Gecer from the host country. I had an okay game and advanced to second round in about an hour and a half. In general, US team had a good first round. Winston (U-8) and Simone(U-10G) both won.

Hotel Limra is a very big hotel and well suited for such a large tournament. However the facilities are pretty basic and some inadequate. Biggest gripe was no Internet access in room or elsewhere at the hotel. Food is already getting monotonous and need a change. Planning to go to the Italian restaurant for dinner. I hope they serve good ravioli:)

My dad will tweet if Internet is available. You can also follow the event at Chessdom.com.

Team meeting earlier in the day.

Exciting first day at Antalya

I arrived on Monday afternoon and the day was over too quickly as I slept immediately. My body clock and sleep pattern is totally messed up. Slept at 6pm and woke up at 12midnight and could not sleep after that. Hopefully we can bring it under control within the next two days.

I am staying at Renaissance Antalya Beach Resort & Spa. It is not one of the WYCC listed hotels but my dad got it for reward points. It is very very nice and we got upgrade to family suite. Our hotel has its  own beach. It is not a sandy beach but with many colorful stones. The hotel is located between hills and the mediterranean sea.

Our suite has a living room, bedroom, walk-in closet and two bathrooms (one with shower, other with a nice big bath tub).

Next was HUGE breakfast. It was the largest breakfast I have ever seen. They had 18 varieties of Jam! Check out pictures here:

Then we went for a stroll on the beach. It was drizzling earlier but temperature was just nice. No winter clothes needed. I am wearing a thin jacket for rain.

In the afternoon, we went for a swim in indoor pool and then to "Hamam", a turkish bath. Dinner was at a chinese restaurant called Lotus.

After dinner we went to the game room for an hour of foos ball and Wii sports. Tomorrow we move to Hotel Limra. Chess starts on 12th Thursday:)

Getting ready for World Youth, Kemer-Antalya, Turkey

World Youth Chess Championship 2009 will be held at Kemer-Antalya, Turkey. It is the highest level of competition with age restrictions. I already feel proud to be competing at that level and nothing about my result can take it away from me. That being said I have been preparing to put up the best performance I can.

My preparation for this event is similar to Pan-Am couple of months ago but with lesser available time and tighter schedule. Now that the school is in full swing I am getting about 1-2 hours a day for chess studies on week days. Physical training is already making a good impact in my overall fitness. I run couple of laps after school every day at my local park. It is helping me play better soccer too:)

As my first experience at the big stage I am eagerly looking forward to it. I hope I can play with players from as many countries as possible and make new friends along the way. The new team jacket and shirt is really cool.

I leave for Antalya on 8th from San Francisco. My dad will tweet regularly and I’ll try to blog occasionally from the event. Other prominent chess websites will also be covering the event.

Tournament Official Website

Best wishes and encouragement from my friends and family would be my strength.