August 2024
Issue 7
Newsletter
Editors: IM Eric Liu & FM Arthur Xu
Chess for Unity
IM Eric Liu's story at the Pan-American Youth Championship XXXIV 2024
FM Arthur Xu
In June 2024, I met IM Eric Liu at the 2024 US Cadet Chess Championship and invited him to join Chess for Unity. I am sure he will make a great addition to our team and further our goal of engaging children to play chess. Welcome, Eric! IM Eric Liu attended his first Pan-American Youth Championship in July 2024 and won a Gold Medal in the Under-16 Open section. Congratulations! Here, Eric reflects on his Pan-American Youth experience. I hope that our readers enjoy his story and can learn from his experience.
My First Pan-American Youth Championship Tournament
IM Eric Liu
My dad and I arrived at the hotel 2 days before the tournament began. We usually get there 1 day before, but there were a lot of storms, so we just played it safe. I heard that some people got their flights delayed or canceled, which would be unfortunate for them.
The chess tournament was held at the Rosen Shingle Creek hotel in Orlando, Florida. I’ve actually been to that hotel twice before for chess tournaments. The first time was way back in December 2018 when I played in my very first National Grade Championship, when I was in 3rd Grade. The 2nd time I was in Shingle Creek was for the 2021 National Grade Championship (I was in 6th Grade), where I ended up in a big tie for first with 6/7, and got first on tiebreaks.
I decided to relax before the tourney, which is what I usually do, so I played some tennis with my dad. Even though I only play for fun, and I’ve never had a private coach, he made it seem like I was a pro. Yes, he’s that bad.
On to the tournament. The Pan-American Youth Chess Championship was a 9 round tourney, which lasted 6 days. It also had a blitz side event. There were 12 sections, from Under 8 all the way to Under 18, as well as all of the Girls sections. I was the U.S.’s Official Representative in the U16 Open section, which meant that I got free tournament entry, plus room and board.
At 2344 FIDE, I was the highest rated player in my section. The next highest rated was 2236 FIDE, so I was a big favorite to win my section. But that makes it harder because everyone preps against the top seed, but if you’re in the middle of the pack, no one preps you.
On the first day of the tourney, I met up with the U.S. coach, GM Elshan Moradiabadi. He was coaching four people during the tourney, so sometimes the timing for classes got a bit challenging. I also picked up my U.S. Team jacket, which I wore in every game of the tourney (I wore my standard black hoodie in the blitz event).
The round times were too early in my opinion. Most of the morning games were at 9:30. I usually like to get up 2 hours before the round, which meant that I had to get up at 7:30, which is really early for me, especially since it felt like 6:30 since I live in Texas. I guess all the people from California were even more tired.
Ok, so on the first round, I was Black against Kael Samuel Bisnath from Trinidad and Tobago. His FIDE rating was 1847, so I thought it was gonna be a really easy win for me, but it was a much tougher game than expected. I equalized comfortably out of the opening, and got a typical Sicilian middlegame. Then I chose the wrong moment to strike, and suddenly I was even losing! He didn’t play in the most accurate way, but I was much worse for a good part of the game. Then he got into time trouble and blundered, and I won. That was the only game in the whole tournament where I was losing at one point. So if you’re higher rated but you’re worse in the game, just wait for the opponent to blunder. (Samuel Bisnath – Liu PGN)
The next 3 rounds I won without too much complication. On Round 5, I was Black against Christopher Leonel Garzon Zapatanga from Ecuador. His FIDE rating was 2208, and I was also confident about winning since I thought that I was capable of beating everyone in my section. He played a line that I didn’t expect, and since I didn’t really review it recently, I couldn’t catch his opening errors. He still ended up getting a worse position out of the opening, and I was close to winning at multiple points according to the engine. The win was never clear though, and I messed up and settled for a draw. (Garzon Zapatanga – Liu PGN)
On Round 6, I was White against Kent Slate from the US. His FIDE rating was 2065, so I thought that I definitely should win this. He played something that I had prepared, and soon he was thinking on his own. I got a better position out of the opening, but I wasn’t sure how to continue in the position. At some point it got a little messy, but I managed to handle the complications well enough. I reached a winning endgame and won it cleanly. (Liu – Slate PGN)
The blitz tourney was after Round 6. The annoying part was that every single person in my section was over 400 points lower rated than me in FIDE blitz, and it was FIDE blitz rated. They also paired people using FIDE blitz ratings. Many people were obviously underrated in their FIDE blitz ratings. I boasted a rating of 2452. That’s because in the Walter Browne blitz tourney, I had an amazing run, defeating a few GMs, and gained 176 points in FIDE blitz. I only play blitz tourneys for fun, so I wasn’t scared about losing a bunch of rating. Plus, I now have K10, so it won’t even be that much.
In the first double round, I got to play second seed Benjamin Tang, whose FIDE blitz was 1762 while his FIDE was 2236. I thought that was kind of unlucky. I was Black in the first game. The position was kind of complicated, but I had everything under control. Until I hung a full Queen. Well, how did that happen? Good question. I had a Queen on c4, and he went Na5 attacking my Queen, and I simply forgot that he was attacking my Queen, so I moved another piece. I didn’t even realize that I had hung a Queen until he started raising his eyebrows and doing all those excited gestures that people love doing when they know they’re dead winning. Obviously I resigned after he took the Queen. I couldn’t help but smile.
Funny thing is that that wasn’t the first time I’ve hung a full Queen in a blitz tourney. I’ve actually done that before in the 2024 National Middle School Championship, where I was playing an 1800 USCF. I still came close to winning that tourney, but ultimately didn’t manage to.
In the 2nd game, I got nothing out of the opening, and we reached a Knight vs. Bishop endgame. Knights are pretty tricky in blitz, and I proved that since at some point I went Nf7, checking his King on d6, and he didn’t move it. So basically in the first game, I hung a Queen, and in the 2nd game, my opponent hung a King.
So in most OTB blitz tourneys, there’s a pairing sheet that the players mark their results on. The TD simply takes the sheet away and puts the results in and gets the next round up. But in this blitz tourney, everyone had to wait in these really long lines to tell the TDs their results. I think that the first round only had 2 people taking in results, but they added more people after that. But the process was still bad.
Since I started out with 1 out 2, I thought that my next opponent would be easier. Well, my next opponent was Christopher Zapatanga, who I already played in the main event. His FIDE blitz was 1877, while his FIDE was 2208. Once again, not the easiest pairing. I scored 1.5-0.5 against him, making my current score 2.5/4. I was still confident about winning the tourney though. I had already played the top 2 seeds FIDE rating wise, and everyone else would just be easier.
I easily 2-0ed my opponent on Round 3. On Round 4, I played Miguel Zaragoza, which I also already played in the main event. I was Black in the first game. I got a losing position out of the opening, but he played inaccurately and allowed me to hold on. Then he blundered mate in 1. I won the 2nd game pretty easily, so that put me at 6.5/8.
I was tied for first before the last round, and if I got 1.5/2, I would get clear first. I ended up doing that, earning clear first in the U16 Blitz tourney with 8/10. I lost 15 FIDE blitz points, but that doesn’t really matter.
Back to Round 7 of the main event, I was Black against Sihan Tao from the US. His FIDE rating was 2194. I had played him before in the 2024 National Open, also as Black, and the game ended in a draw. Since Elshan was coaching him throughout the tourney, he couldn’t prepare either of us because that’d be unfair. At this point, I was half a point ahead of second place (Christopher Zapatanga), who had 5/6, and I had already played him. There were 2 people with 4.5/6: Benjamin Tang, who I already played, and Sihan Tao. Those 3 people were probably the highest rated people I would have to play this tournament, so I knew that once I got them out of the way, the rest of the games would be easier.
I think that I surprised Sihan in the opening, and soon I was winning according to the engine. During the game, I simply misevaluated the position and never thought that I was winning. Just like in my game against Christopher Zapatanga, I had many chances, but I never managed to capitalize on them, so the game ended in a draw. (Tao – Liu PGN)
The last round was extra early. It was at 9:00. That was kind of annoying, but it’s fine. I was White against Nate Ziegler from the US. His FIDE rating was 1928, so I knew that it should be an easy win. I’ve actually played against him twice before. Once in the 2022 National Elementary Championship, and once in the 2022 National Grade Championship. Both times I was White and won.
At this point I was still in clear first by half a point with 7/8. Christopher Zapatanga was in clear 2nd with 6.5, playing Benjamin Tang on board two, who was in clear 3rd with 6. I knew this game also had to be a must-win if I wanted to take clear first, since Christopher Zapatanga got to play a 1942, and he would probably win.
My opponent played basically exactly what I expected. Then he played a move that I didn’t review at all. I knew that it had to be bad somehow, but I couldn’t figure out how. I spent a whole lot of time and ended up playing something that looked bad and was bad. Since he was 1900, he didn’t respond in the best way, and soon I built up a big advantage. I blew the advantage away, and at some point he offered me a draw. Board 2 was still going, so I declined it. The position in my game was probably just equal.
Then, all of a sudden, Board 2 ended in a draw! (I found out after the game that Christopher Zapatanga actually blundered mate in 1, but his opponent missed it, and then they played a little more and the game ended in a draw, crazy!).
Now I knew that I just needed to draw to get clear first. My opponent then hung a full pawn, and I was winning again. Since I was in time trouble and I wanted to get a risk-free position by trading Queens, I missed a simple move that would’ve just ended the game on the spot. I was able to trade Queens, and we ended up in an endgame where I was 2 pawns up, but my King was cut off. I didn’t see any chance of me losing that.
He made a mistake again, and I managed to activate my King, but he managed to activate his as well. Then I realized that I had a slight miscalculation. I saw a hint of counterplay for him. He offered me a draw. My clock was ticking down. I remembered that Elshan said that I was here to win the tournament; rating didn’t matter. I could just accept the draw and get clear first.
But of course I knew that I was winning this game. I knew that I was playing someone 416 points lower than me. What if his counterplay got too big? I still couldn’t figure out a concrete way to erase it completely. I could not risk losing this game and be so close to winning the tourney that I really wanted to win, and yet not win it. But would I be happy with myself if I drew to a 1900 as White? 10 seconds left… I had to decide. There were too many thoughts in my head. I went for the risk-free way to take clear first and accepted the draw. (Liu – Ziegler PGN)
That’s how I won the U16 Open section of the 2024 Pan American Youth Chess Championship.
It wasn’t the most satisfying way to finish the tournament, but I was able to cheer up before the Award Ceremony by playing some blitz with Henry Deng, who won the U14 Open section. We played until the Award Ceremony started.
During the ceremony, they made us hold the US flag when taking pictures. I thought that was kind of interesting. After the Award Ceremony, I played some more blitz with Henry. Then my dad and I ate a nice steak dinner before catching our flight home.