Written by Aila V. and Aissah W.B.
Illustration by Zoe Choi
I was scared, I was worried, but I was victorious. When you’re playing, you can’t really think about the stress- only the excitement. I played five rounds, thinking on my feet - one move ahead, and playing against people who I thought were better than me. I played for six hours and faced numerous obstacles along the way.
The first round that I played was decided in four moves. In these four moves, I felt knots in my stomach. We had just started the round and I was really nervous. I didn't really expect the amount of people who were going to be there, especially since it was an early release day. I had to stop and think about each move I made. Risking my chances on if I was going to win.
Going into round two, I was relieved that I won the last one but I didn't know what to expect. Some of the opponents who were playing in the tournament were people I have never played before so I was getting worried that it was going to be over. This round was one out of the two longest rounds I played. I used the London Opening in this round. You start by moving your pawn to E4, continuing to develop minor pieces and then the major pieces. I continued to follow the London System steps through the whole game. Luck was on my side and I successfully won round two. I was so glad all my hard work on learning new openings was paying off. This time, I won with the Rook and King checkmate. This pretty much means when you push your opponent's king all away against the board and then the move rook all the way up the A8 file. I was hoping to keep this same energy through every single round I played.
Round three was definitely harder. This same opponent was the one I had to play right then at the moment. When I was in sixth grade, I didn't place well because I was defeated. At the time, I wasn't as experienced as I am now and I did not practice as much. I didn't know many chess openings and I only knew the basics. All feelings were happening. Scared, but excited that I could get a second chance at beating them. I have never successfully beaten them before, but the tables turned and I finally beat my toughest and most memorable opponent.
Round four was when I realized how far I really came. I told myself that even if I didn't win, I was proud that I made it this far into the tournament. The person I was playing this round was the same level as I was, so it could've gone either way. I had to think about everything Mr. Hicks had taught me over the past few months. The openings, the gambits, the tactics, and the videos that he recommended to me were all coming back into my memory again and I found myself winning round four. I was so happy that I got to make it into the finals.
The last round was pushed back because we ran out of time. The final round was scheduled for a Monday but I got sick and it got pushed back even farther. The first day I came back I had to compete with all of my heart. We started warming up before we played the actual game and my opponent ended up winning during the practice round. I thought that I was never going to win because he was so skilled at chess. My confidence level started dropping immediately. We ended up having to skip period six because we were so concentrated that the game took a lot longer than most chess matches are. I ended up winning because my opponent ended up blundering their queen. This gave me the opportunity to move my rook to A8 where the king was at the end of the rank. I knew I had won as I moved my queen up when I said, “Checkmate.”
Through hard work and determination, in the end, I won The Best of the Best Tournament for the second quarter.
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