Chess!

My Chess Timeline!

The Origin! (2012)

I had no intentions of playing Chess when I first learned about it. It was introduced into my elementary school as a mandatory class, and I, honestly, just saw it as a free period in disguise. It was 4th Grade, and I just wanted to do math all the time, so I didn't care much for anything else. However, I ended up going to the Chess Club after school, probably because I could afford to kill some time, since I lived directly across the street from my elementary school. It was run by the school's gym teacher, who everyone (obviously) loved, and he didn't know how to play chess, but he saw potential in students--me being one of them. Taking note of this, he told the chess instructors during the school day, and they focused on me and noticed it too. During regular lessons, the first coach our school had, Stephanie Ballom, would put me aside on her computer to do advanced lessons and I ended up learning a lot--way more than I ever imagined--and I suddenly grew a passion for Chess, but a small one. Coach Stephanie was from an organization called Chess-in-the-Schools (this will be important later) and I give her a lot of credit for where I am today.

My Very First Tournament! (2012)

Thanks to the newly instituted program at my elementary school, PS 16, my school was given the opportunity to host tournaments by Chess-in-the-Schools and that meant it was an opportunity for me to shine! With my gym teacher and Coach Stephanie both insisting that this would be good for me, and my mom convinced that it couldn't possibly be a waste, since I would be going across the street anyway, there was no way I could pass it up. So I played my best and ended up doing really well! I scored 2.5 points out of 4 and ended up getting a trophy for 12th Place! Everyone was so proud of me and I was too. While receiving my trophy, though, one of the Assistant Tournament Directors said, "Keep killing it man!", even though we hadn't known each other, and that right there solidified my interest in Chess.

New Beginnings (2014)

Heading into Middle School now. I got into IS 318, which--at the time I didn't know this--was really popular for its legendary chess team. Due to my past experiences with chess in elementary school, which to this day I still don't know how the school found out about, my "shop" class was Chess and I got placed into the homeroom with all of the chess kids. I was surrounded by people with ratings--and at the time, I didn't know what that was either--and I didn't understand why people kept saying "he's 1500?!", or "I beat a 1200". To myself, I could only comprehend that those were really big numbers. But in learning everything, I found out the significance of the rating, and promised myself that I would be like all of my friends, and hopefully get to an even higher rating than I currently had, and my rating then was...well, I was unrated! I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to be as good as everyone else.

Breaking Ground, Making History (2014-2015)

I guess I had really good drive back then because I took every chess-related opportunity I could. I was blessed that my middle school had a variety of coaches, all helping every student get better at Chess in any ways they possibly could. I finally joined my friends after playing in my first rated tournament, scoring 2/4 points, which is actually really impressive. My first rating was 790, and it was a day I'll never forget. But this led to an even more important date. By the end of the school year, my rating was 1590, and that was monumental because I'd gained the most rating points ever in one school year in all of my school's history. It was unbelievable to me, that I, the unrated kid, skyrocketed and made history at the same time, and I was convinced that I, too, was legendary. It was only up from here.

A Champion?! (2016)

How do you get your face on television? Better yet, how do you get your face on television in an entirely different continent? It's simple, you see. Chess! I don't know if this is just a mere coincidence, but a Japanese reporter came to my school and she wanted to put the life of an incredible chess student on display. My friend Vicki Yang, an 8th Grader at the time, was the top player on the chess team at the time, I believe, with a rating over 2000. She was, and still is, SO strong. She was going to play in the annual Tri-State Chess Championship in Bryant Park, which made the reporter go to the tournament as well, but she ended up not being able to attend. But I was there. I was playing in the highest section, with a rating of 1895 and the lowest rated person in the section. But that didn't stop me! I went 3/3 and won the tournament! I was the Tri-State Chess Championship Champion, accompanied with a little cash payout, my rating hitting its peak at the time, 1946, and, only because it was June and the seniors were graduating, becoming the captain of my chess team! If all that weren't enough, Miwa McCormick, the reporter, had fixated her eyes on me after seeing my performance and discovering my rapid progress in Chess, as opposed to most students. She ended up interviewing me and coming into my home, and captured my life for Japanese news to see, and I never even saw this coming.

Two Champions (2016)

In 8th Grade, the World Chess Championship of 2016 was occurring in NYC, so the world champion of Chess, Magnus Carlsen, was coming to New York and it was an opportunity my school seized immediately. We got him to come to our school and he was set to play games against three players on the Chess team. I got to play against him, mostly because of my impressive excellence in the game as a whole, and because, at the time, I was the highest rated person on the entire chess team. It was an incredible, and, most importantly, different experience. I expected Magnus to be this bigshot guy, as he was the world champion, but he was really nice and down to Earth. Great guy, and he played a great game. I mean, he destroyed me, but it was such an honor to be destroyed by him.

Returning the Favor (2017-2018)

Welcome to high school. Chess-in-the-Schools(abbreviated CIS) offers a college prep program and I got into it, which was pretty great because I got to stay connected to a lot of my Chess friends. Within the program, we are given the opportunity to work inside the tournaments that CIS hosts, and I also got into that, so I was able to be the same kid that made me want to continue playing chess for a new group of Chess players. To solidify giving back, over the summer I taught kids how to play Chess with another instructor in two schools-- PS 107 in the Bronx and Harlem Police Athletic League--and formed some awesome bonds with the kids, even though they were all 5th Graders and younger.

Strong Individual (2018/2019)

Every Memorial Day weekend, there is a tournament hosted in New Jersey called the United States Amateur East Tournament, the individual version, as there is a team tournament hosted on every President's Day weekend. In 9th Grade, I played in the Under 1800 section, as I struggled for nearly an entire year to fix my rating plummet, and I won the entire tournament [section] with 5.5/6! That was really big for me because I was going through such a rough patch and that tournament win was the turning point that I was desperate for. I got a really nice, and TALL might I add, trophy to compliment my efforts.
The next year, which was 2019, I played in the tournament again, this time in the Under 2200 section, which is the top section and the majority of people in the tournament were expert level players, myself not included. I will admit that I was nervous about what my performance would be, given all of the strong players I could potentially face. That nervousness simply faded, though, as I played one of those experts in the very first round, and beat him rather quickly, and stylishly for that matter. He was a formidable opponent, but just didn't play better than I did. That game won a spot inside of an article my Chess organization publishes after traveling to events such as that one. But that isn't even the entire accomplishment. I went on to play against 5 more opponents, 4 of those who had higher ratings than I had (only two of the four were not experts, by the way), and, given the circumstances, I finished with an incredibly strong 4/6, only being defeated one time, and placing 17th in the tournament, all complemented by a trophy for the Best Player Under 1900. All in all, it was really nice to be able to show two consecutive strong performances at these annual events.

My Favorite Title (2019)

My high school, Edward R. Murrow High School, is quite popular for its feats in Chess, with a history of Experts, Masters and even International Masters coming out of the school, some of which were my coaches back in IS 318. At this point, I hadn't receieved any of these titles yet, but I was doing a lot of extra work for the Chess team during my sophomore year, while also maintaining a strong relationship with the Chess teacher, Mr. Weiss. My impressive managment and efforts were not unrecognized, as he named me Captain of the Chess team following a few of them. It was cool being captain even though I was the second-highest rated person on the team, although the highest rated person was inactive for almost an entire year when I was named. As Captain, I got permission to start an Instagram account to track the accomplishments of the Chess team, so that was pretty cool too. I may not be an Expert or Master yet, but being Captain is fine enough.

EXPERTise (2020)

The first chess event of 2020! Woohoo! But the most important chess event in my entire chess career. I played in a tournament at the Marshall Chess Club on MLK Jr. Day and I played SO well. I beat an 1180, a 2101, an FM rated 2306(!!), drew a 2200, and lost to an FM rated 2260. It was an amazing tournament, where I performed far above my actual rating and finally boosted me over 2000, so I, now officially, am an expert at the game of Chess. That. Feels. Amazing.

TBD: The Best [Tournament] Director (2020)

Okay, maybe it's a stretch to say that I'm the best tournament director, but hear me out. Inside of CIS, students can get trained to become an Assistant Tournament Director at the tournaments hosted by CIS almost every weekend. After more than two years of being a tournament director, I have definitely gotten some recognition for my really good work as a TD (Tournament Director). On top of that, when one of CIS's normal announcers for the awards ceremony was fathering a child, someone had to announce the awards, and I was nominated, for multiple reasons. I have since become the go-to announcer for award ceremonies and the parents typically wait for me to show up whenever it's time for awards. I've been greatly appreciated for stepping up, as it really isn't everyday that you see a teenager announcing awards at a tournament. To bring everything full circle, my very first coach, Stephanie Ballom, invited me to be a tournament director at the tournaments she hosts at the school she currently teaches at. Eager to do it, I went and had an awesome time as a TD, doing a really good job and establishing quite the quick rapport with the new community. At the end, I was asked to do the awards, since I've just been noted as a great announcer. While it all was fun and made me feel really good for proving myself once again, it was even greater validation to have parents come up to me and thank me for announcing the awards. Some had recognized me from CIS tournaments and they acknowledged how well I had done there and at the tournament, too. If I'm not the best, I'm at least pretty good.