Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope 2009 will be a wonderful year and better than 2008. Hopefully the new year will bring me good luck by winning first place at the Village School Tournament tomorrow! Wish me good luck! : )

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are thankful for a lot of things. Tell me what you're thankful for in a comment. I'll tell you what I'm thankful for when I hear yours. Happy Thanksgiving again!!!

Texas K-12 Grade Results

From November 22-23, I competed in the Texas K-12 tournament and came home with a 5th place trophy with a total of 4.5 points. My sister Hannah got a 6th place trophy with 4.5 points too. Last year at the 2007 Texas K-12 Grade tournament I won 2nd and Hannah got 1st. Pictures and games are coming later.

Chess Olympiad

For Chess Olympiad information, results, pictures, games, and more, click on http://www.dresden2008.de/.

World Youth Puzzles!

Here are some puzzles from Hannah's game at World Youth...

Hannah was white in this game with her opponent. What should white do to keep her winning position?

Hannah was black and it looks like she's sort of winning. What move should Hannah have done to maintain her winning chance?

Election 2008

Do you know what day it is? Well of course it is November 4th, but today's ELECTION DAY! Tomorrow we will see who is the new president. Is it John McCain or Barack Obama? We will have to see. To see live coverage, go to http://news.yahoo.com/elections. Plus tell me who you are going to vote for by posting a comment. You can see who I want to win the election. : )

See latest stories on Yahoo! News

More Pictures of Hannah at World Youth

Hannah and her teammates who won 3rd place for team.

Hannah and Margaret holding their certificates.

Hannah getting ready to play and with her cute headband again!!

Hannah with her really cute headband! : )

Hannah at closing ceremony.

*There are more pictures to come!

World Youth Results

Hannah was placed 7th in her section at World Youth. She won 7/11 points. The US team won 3rd place in her section. Above is a picture of the whole US team. Congratulations to the US team!

Happy Halloween!

TRICK-OR-TREAT!

Happy Halloween to everyone! I hope you ate a lot of candy and enjoyed Halloween! More pictures and results of Hannah at World Youth coming up!

Hannah at World Youth

Hannah with coach and Sarai.

Hannah next to playing hall.

Hannah getting ready to play!

Hannah at the beach with Margaret and Sarai.

Hannah and her 6th round opponent.

Hannah in front of the playing hall.

Hannah has 4.5/6 points. She lost the 6th round to Mammazada Gunay.

If you would like to see Hannah's 6th round, click on http://web1.tsf.org.tr/. Click http://chess-results.com/tnr15981.aspx?art=25&fedb=USA&lan=1&fed=USA&flag=30&m=-1 to see team USA results.

My highest rating ever!

My highest rating now is 1706! Sorry for not posting in a while. : ( I'll try to post some more posts up!

HCC 3-29-08

I went to HCC (Houston Chess Club) to play games. I won ALL three games, surprisingly. And I was the only one who won all three rounds. It made me very happy.


This position was from the first round. I was black. Black to move. Where would you move if you were black?

This position is from the game I played with William P. Gibson. I played Bd6. Would you play Bd6 or cxb7? Which one is better?

Games before National

I went to HCC on Saturday a little while ago. I played three rounds. I lost all the rounds. There was one game I should have won, but I didn't.



This positioin is from the game I played with Matthew. Can you guess what white should have played instead of Rxb2?

This position is from the game I played with Naveen. I played Bc5 to chase away the bishop. I should have done something better. If you guessed c5 you were correct! I should have played c5 to protect my knight.

Pictures from Texas K-12 Grade

This is my sister getting ready for the tournament.
I'm very nervous, but I have to smile for the camera!
Both of them were co-champions.

My sister is probably very nervous.

Last round!!!
My sister and her BIG 1st place trophy.

Me and my 2nd place trophy.

2007 TEXAS K-12 GRADE

On November 17-18, I went to the 2007 Texas K-12 Grade Tournament. I was in the 5th grade section. I had to play 6 games. I won five out of six. I was 2nd place after the tournament.


Below are some positions from my games.


This position is from the game I played with Becky. I made a mistake by pushing my e-pawn to e5. It would give her knight a good outpost on d6. From that point on, I had all sorts of troubles.




This position is from the game I played with Truman. I pushed my g-pawn to g4. My opponent didn't En Passent for some reason. It gave me a chance to win that pinned bishop. If he did take my pawn, I would be a step behind. He played b5 and I didn't En Passent. Then I would have lost my bishop.

Battles with Williams

I went to the Houston Chess Club to play chess. I played with three games with opponents all named William. What a coincidence! More impressively, I played with a blind man. I never had an experience like that. He had a special chess board and clock. At the end, I ended with 1.5 points, beating one and drew one. It was really weird to play in a tournament with opponents all having the same first name!

The following position is from the game I played as black. It is black's turn. What do you think black should do to start the fatal attack?

I was black in this position. My opponent offered me a draw. I agreed the draw within a few moves. But I analysed the game after and found black can gain a pawn right here. Can you figure it out?