CHESS:MY JOURNEY"

-By Tanmay Jain

I started playing chess at the age of 7 in 2014.I was inspired by my elder brother who was also a chess player then. My mother taught me how to move the pieces in chess.I started taking training from my school coach and took chess as a sport in school. Soon I started finding chess as a game that suited my interest.I was fascinated by the moving of each piece. Each piece had its own movement like the bishops could move diagonally only, the king can move one step in any direction at a time etc. It was complicated but after learning it felt quite interesting. The tactical and strategic play in chess fascinated me the most.I soon started playing chess tournaments.

1.U-7 Jalandhar District Championship 2014: It was the first tournament of my chess career and was held in my district i.e Jalandhar and was quite excited for it.It was a tournament of four rounds and I still remember how nervous I was before the first round because I had Atychiphobia i.e fear of losing. Though I hadn't trained much but still expected a good result.In the first round my opponent didn't appear for the game and I got a free point. In the second round I won with great difficulty. I was really happy to win my first chess match. I gained confidence and in the 3rd and the 4th round I defeated two good players and stood 1st. It was a joyous moment for me and my family. I was expecting this from myself.It gave me a great boost to pursue chess. I came back home, enjoyed my moment and started training for the next tournament.

2.U-7 Punjab State Championship 2014

After the major boost from my previous tournament I started training and participated in the U-7 Punjab State Championship in Amritsar. It was a 4 round tournament.I got sick the day before the tournament but still decided to play. I was nervous but it was all gone after my first victory of the tournament. In the second round I was coughing so hard that I couldn't even breathe. For a moment I thought to quit but didn't lose hope and with vigorous difficulty got my second victory. After the two victories I gained all my confidence to win the tournament which had gone due to my illness.The 3rd and 4th rounds were quite easy for me and I won them without any difficulty. I was in seventh heaven to win the tournament despite having a high fever and cold. It was another major boost for me to win my first two tournaments.My Coach was also quite happy.

I knew things wouldn't be so easy ahead so I started training harder for the U-7 Nationals which were just a month away.

U-7 National Chess Championship 2014

After winning the state championship I went to play the nationals in Kolkata. It was a tournament of 11 rounds. The first round was on 27th August. I had a great start with victories in my first three games. I lost the fourth game.I didn't lose my confidence and again won the fifth round. Out of 8 rounds my score was 5.I lost the 9th round and won the last two games and finished with a score of 7/11. I was in the top 24 and a big achievement for me for my first nationals. I changed my coach to Balwinder Singh who was from Amritsar. We got along well and Singh sir’s teaching skills made me improve my skills in chess. He taught me a lot of things in chess and even other things other than chess. He was like a dream coach to have. I trained for one year with him then He started encouraging me to play tournaments and after discussing with him I decided to play the U-8 Commonwealth championship which was being held in New Delhi a month after.

U-8 Commonwealth Chess Championship 2015

After a 1 year training I started feeling confident while playing. I was undefeated at any local tournament so I decided to play a bigger tournament which was the U-8 Commonwealth Championship in New Delhi in the month of June. I reached the venue a day before the tournament with my mother. At the start of the tournament I was feeling confident and started off the tournament with a win. I went on to win the next 2 games. I got a score of 3/3. Then I lost a game really badly from a very strong player, Shahil Dey. I lost my confidence at this point and my next two went not that good. Though I won and drew in both the rounds, there was a fear inside me. Out of 6 rounds I had scored 4.5 and the last round was yet to go. I was quite nervous because a victory meant a guaranteed gold medal for me. I made up my mind to win the game and felt confident. The start of the game was a bad one for me and in the middle it got even worse. I was losing the game and at this time it was really difficult to control my feelings. I aimed to win but practically I couldn't. At this point I thought to play my natural game and though I gave a tough fight, I lost the game. It was really dicy whether I would place 3rd or 4th. Another player named Raahil Mullick was most likely to be the bronze medalist but sadly he lost the last game. I was really happy but at the same time I could feel his sorrow. I stood 3rd and clinched a bronze medal for India.

After being the bronze medalist in the commonwealth, my talent was acknowledged by all. There were articles about me in newspapers

Parshwanath Open 2015

After a major boost from Commonwealth I started to participate in open tournaments without any age limits. My first tournament was Parshwanath Open 2015 in New Delhi. It was a 9 round journey. As the prize money was quite high many people were there and the place got congested. There were around 3000 people participating in the tournament with three categories A,B and C. A person was categorized on the basis of their rating. Rating in chess starts from 1000 and you can go on to defeat stronger opponents to gain rating. The highest rating achieved by a human is in the 2800s. In A category players with rating 2000 and above were there, in category B players with rating ranging from 1600-2000 were there and in C category people with rating 1600 and below were there. I had a rating of 1123 and participated in the C category. I got my rating in a tournament in Amritsar called Sameen Singh. I started with 1051 and after gaining a rating in Commonwealth I achieved this rating.I started my first round with a loss and that tournament didn't go that good for me.I faced really strong players but still managed to get a decent score of 5/9 and gain 20 elo points for my rating. Rating is called elo points.After it I played another local tournament in New Delhi in which I got 20 elo points.

I stopped playing for sometime and started training and improving my skills. My hard work paid off in the Chitkara Open Chess Championship 2016.

Chitkara Open Chess Championship 2016.

It was in Chandigarh. This was the best tournament I had played so far. I started my tournament with a victory.I went on to score 5/5. I defeated many strong players who had higher ratings than me.In the sixth round I drew but still led the tournament. I drew the next 2 games with strong players and won the last round from a strong player and scored 7/9. I got the 6th position which was excellent for me in an open championship.More than that I gained a massive 121 elo points. Now my rating was 1321.

PCA CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2016

After Chitkara I went to play PCA Chess Championship in New Delhi just 2 weeks after. It was an open championship. I came to gain some elo points.I started my tournament with a victory and the streak went till the 3rd round.I lost the fourth round and again lost the 5th round. I had a score of 3/5. I drew the sixth round and my score was 3.5 out of 6 which was not a good score for me. I was losing elo points and even there seemed no chance to win a prize or even a category prize. I knew that my nervousness was not letting me play my natural game. I promised myself not to be nervous and play with full confidence.It worked and I won the last 3 rounds and scored 6.5/9. It was a good score and gained around 80 elo points and also won U-9 boy 1st prize. Now my rating was 1401.

Chess training in Championship In Nagpur

After the tournament in Delhi I went to Nagpur for training from a coach named Anup Deshmukh. He was a strong player and a good coach too. I used to go to his to train.He suggested my various chess books which I bought and helped me improve my game. I trained with him for around 20 days and after that there was an open championship being held in Nagpur. I decided to play it. The tournament was a decent one and out of 9 possible rounds I scored 5.5. My last game of the tournament was an excellent one where being a piece down I won the game. I gained 31 elo points to reach a rating of 1432.

U-9 National Chess Championship 2016 in Jalandhar,Punjab.

I played a lot of tournaments to get experience for the U-9 nationals which were held in my city Jalandhar. It was nice for me because instead of living in a hotel and eating junk food I could live in my house and eat healthy. It comprised of 11 rounds. I score 3/3 in the first 3 rounds.I lost the 4th round from a strong player Dev Shah.Then I won the 5th round,lost the 6th,won the seventh and drew the eighth and ninth round and won the 10th and 11th round. I managed to score 8/11 and placed 7th in the nationals!It was a big achievement for me and for the first time a player from Punjab stood in the top 10 in Nationals. I gained 75 elo points and reached a rating of 1507. I was selected for the U-10 Asian Youth Championship to be held in March 2017. I was really excited for the asian youth chess championship but a problem arose. The date of the tournament clashed with the date of my final exams for the 4th grade. My mother requested the school authorities for an exemption and fortunately the school agreed and I was happy that I could play the tournament.

Asian Youth Chess Championship 2017 in Uzbekistan

The championship was from 31st March to 7th April in Uzbekistan. I went to Uzbekistan with my father. The tournament had 3 play types one was rapid (where time control was 15 minutes),Classical(where time control is 90 minutes) and blitz (where time control is 3 minutes).The tournament started with the rapid type.I scored a decent score of 5.5/9. The next day was the classical or the main tournament. I took a good rest and was confident before the first round.I started with a victory and the streak went till the fourth round. I was leading the tournament with 4/4. I lost the 5th round from a strong Iranian player Ashraf Artin.It was an equal but at the end I blundered. I won the sixth round and after that my performance fell. I drew with 3 opponents which I knew could defeat but couldn't. I Scored 6.5/9 and secured a bronze medal for India. It was a proud moment when I wrapped the Indian flag around me at the prize ceremony. I gained 20 elo points and reached a rating of 1527.

After this Achievement I got famous in newspapers and even I was interviewed. I became famous among chess players and even inspired some of them.

Parshwanath Chess Championship 2017 New Delhi

This time I played in the B category. This tournament was a tough one for me but still I could get 5/10 and reached a rating of 1601.

PUNJAB AMATEAUR 2018 IN BAWANIGARH

This tournament is one of my best tournaments.It was a 9 round tourney with 3 rounds on each day for 3 days. On day 1, I won all the 3 games without much difficulty. On the second day I drew the first and the second rounds.In the third round I drew with a very strong opponent. I still remember that game where I had to sit for 6 hours to hold a draw.It was exhausting but at the end I was happy. On the third day I won the all the three games. The second is one of my favourites.In that I completely outplayed a famous coach of Punjab and defeated him. Many of his students were playing in that tournament and were shocked that he was defeated. Then the last round was easy and I won the tourney with 7.5 points out of 9. Everyone was taking photos with me and I felt really happy. Everyone was shocked that an eleven year old boy outplayed so many players. I also gained 63 elo points and reached the rating of 1664.

National Amateaur 2018 in New Delhi

After the Punjab amateur I went on to play the National Amateaur in New Delhi.I started off with a loss.Then I won the second game and lost the 3rd.There were ups and downs in the tourney but at the end I finished with 5.5/9 and gained 74 elo points and reached the rating of 1732.

Bhopal International Chess Championship 2018

I went to play in an international open championship in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. It was a bad tournament for me in which I lost some elo points.But I enjoyed it a lot so that compensated for it. Then I didn't go back home, instead I went on to play another tournament in Mumbai.

IIFL WEALTH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

After a bad tournament in Bhopal I went to Mumbai to play the IIFL Wealth Championship.I started off with a victory.The streak went on till the third round then I drew in the fourth round.Then in the fifth round I drew again.In the sixth round I lost badly from a strong opponent.The seventh round is the the best game that I have ever played.I defeated a very strong female player Divya Deshmukh and was even awarded game of the day for it.I was really happy.In the eighth round I drew and the ninth round I won and scored 6.5/9.I got the 1st U-13 boys prize.I also gained some elo and reached an elo rating of 1789.

U-13 National Chess Championship 2019

I stopped playing some tournaments for a while and started training harder for the upcoming nationals.They were held in Karaikudi,Tamil Nadu.I started the tournament with a victory and streak went till the 3rd round.I drew the fourth round from a winning position.I I drew the fifth round again and lost the sixth round.I was really disappointed in me but still had confidence on how much hardwork I did.I thought to do some walk before the match to make my mind fresh in the seventh round.It worked and I won the that round and streak went upto 4.My score was 8/10 and If I had won the last round I would have been the runner up in the nationals.But unfortunately I lost from a opponent,not that strong named Mahendra Mekala and finished with 9th position in the nationals.I gained some elo points and reached a rating of 1832.

I started working harder for the U-12 Commonwealth Chess Championship that was just 2 months after.

U-12 Commonwealth Chess Championship 2019 In New Delhi

It was a tourney of 7 rounds.My start of the tournament was phenomenal.I started with a 4/4.In the fourth round I defeated Mahendra Mekala from whom I lost the last round in the u-13 nationals.I drew the fifth round and won the sixth round.I had a score of 5.5 out of 6.The 7th round was yet to go.I was nervous because draw or a win would make me the commonwealth champion.I was nervous and I think that was the key reason of losing.I could easily draw with the white pieces but instead lost.It was a defeat that was really hard to accept.I cried after losing that round and it took me 2 hours to accept my defeat.After that final list came I finished with the 2nd position.I was happy that I won a silver medal and celebrated my achievement.

THE CHESS TOUR TO SPAIN IN 2019

The chess tour to Spain had given me the most success. Just after the commonwealth I went to Spain to play around 5 tournaments.The first one was in Sant Marti and a quite good tourney for me.I gained around 117 elo points. The second was in Sitges. It was also a nice one which helped me gain 84 elo points. After this tourney there was a 4 day break in which I saw some

really beautiful places in Spain. After the break I played another tournament which was also a good one for me. The next tournament wasn't a good one for me.I scored 5/9 but lost and drew with several weaker opponents.I also lost 30 elo points. The last tournament was in Sants and again a nice tourney for me.I scored 5/10 with 8 draws,1 win and 1 loss. I gained 85 elo points. I spent almost a 1 1/2 months in Spain playing these tournaments and enjoyed it a lot. The tour helped me reach a rating of 2194. I was really happy to come close to my dream of getting a rating of 2500.

Some blitz tournaments in Spain

In Sant Marti I played a blitz tournament in which I played phenomenally and got the first position in my category.I am fond of blitz chess. I find it more fun and exciting than normal chess.

Sitges Open Chess Championship in December 2019

With a huge gain of rating I went again to Spain to play Sitges Open Chess Championship. In the first round I played a GM (Grandmaster-the highest title in chess)in my life. I was really happy.I was playing really good till the end and the games was just about to be drawn when I made a small mistake which my opponent took advantage of and won the game. I was happy that I gave a GM a tough fight. The tournament went well for me and I gained 2 elo points. My tournament was in a hotel at the seaside. I took a cycle on rent there and I can remember the feeling of cycling beside the sea on a road at night towards the apartment. The weather,the sea and everything was perfect. More than chess I enjoyed cycling there. I didn't perform too well in the blitz tournament, but I was happy that I enjoyed it.

Rilton Cup 2020

After the Sitges Open I directly went to Sweden without going home to play the next tournament.It was really cold in Sweden.It was my first time experiencing such cold weather.Our apartment was 2km away from the venue.Instead of taking a metro or something,my father and I decided to walk 2km because it will be like a physical exercise.But the extreme cold weather seemed a problem.It was hard to walk on the first day but on the second round it felt like normal.In the first round I lost against a strong player.The tournament went really bad for me except the blitz portion. Firstly I thought not to participate in it due to my bad performance in the classical tournament but then my father encouraged me to play. My mind was made to play the tournament and I love playing blitz. I decided that I would surely play it. The tournament was at night around 8pm.I was feeling sleepy and thought to have a coffee. Unfortunately the milk and the sugar was finished there but I wanted coffee so I made coffee without milk and sugar. It was basically a black coffee without sugar.It tasted horrible but after drinking it my mind got really fresh.I didn't feel my mind so fresh in a while.Mu tournament in the blitz tournament was absolutely phenomenal.I defeated may IM's(International Master) and stood 7th outplaying several players.The classical tournament was finished and I lost 64 elo points and reached a rating of 2132.It is my current rating too.

After the tournament I came back home stopped playing tournaments for a while and started training.Soon the COVID pandemic came and chess was shifted to online. During the pandemic

I didn't play much because it was not fun playing online. Now the pandemic has almost gone, offline tournaments have started. I am also planning to start the game again.