"What does community mean to you? What makes a community?" This year, I have started my freshman year at Westview High School, where the first few days have been focused on community-building rather than academics. And while I have grown tired of these particular questions, the relentless repetition of them has forced…
"Are you sure that you're supposed to sit there?" Well, of course. I thought. "I'm not sure. Let me check." I said. I walked over to the pairing board, and sure enough, I had sat... in the wrong place? It was the sixth round of the North American Youth Chess Championship, a…
Three classrooms of students. Two gatherings of friends. One. Hundred. People. That's the number of people I was challenged to teach chess to within a year. I was at the closing ceremony of the Haring National Tournament of Girls State Champions. The Haring runs concurrently with the Irwin (Senior), the Denker…
Zoey Tang's US Girls Junior Championship Experience "Focus on the step ahead of you, not the whole staircase" ~Unknown This was the quote running through my head when I scanned the email for the umpteenth time, not believing the words. Every small step I had taken, every hour I had invested…
Hi this is Ishaan back with another blog post. I was thrilled to be invited to play in the Oregon Closed Challengers this year. I will share my 4-day saga of the first 6 rounds of the tournament, followed by an eventful last round. In the 1st game, I won a…
We were lying on the bed and watching TV when my mom got a pairing text message. We were so confused. Shouldn’t my tournament start tomorrow? “Mom, did you register Austin for the 6-day schedule? That starts tonight.” “Oops!” The game was about to start in about half an hour, and…