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Bio
I was born on October 1, 1991 in Berkeley, California. I lived there until I was 4, and then when my brother was born, my parents decided to move to Orinda, a small suburb in the Bay Area. I lived there until September 2009, when I decided to move in with my friends in El Cerrito, where I currently reside. I started playing chess when I was 9 years old, and I played my first tournament when I was 10, achieving my first USCF rating ever of 1269. At first, I didn’t play very often, mainly just the Friday night scholastic tournaments at the Berkeley Chess School, the place where I first learned chess. A year later, my rating had dropped a bit and I was down to under 1086. Starting at that point, I would go on to have one of the steepest learning curves in American chess history. It started with a strong result in the Berkeley Peoples K-6th grade chess competition, where I tied for third place. I then played another scholastic tournament in Stockton, and this would be the first time that I took first place in a reasonably strong scholastic tournament, scoring a perfect 4/4. I then played the K-6th grade state championship, an enormous tournament with some 200 entrants. I was still listed as being rated 1083 because my other results had not been submitted yet, and I had no idea that I was actually unofficially 1300 already. Thus, it came as quite a shock to me that I upset the top seeded Aaron Garg, rated over 1600, in round 2. I would maintain a perfect score all the way to the last round, where unfortunately my Cinderella Story was ended by a painful last round loss. Still, I tied for fourth overall in all of California for K-6th grade. This was the start of a long string of good results. Just 3 years later, I became a National Master, breaking 2200 USCF. However, at that point I ran into a brick wall and leveled out. I would stay at about 2200 for about a year, and at the end of that year something wonderful happened. I had 2 wretched results in a row, losing 45 points. I was very down on myself, but it was a good wakeup call- I had been so blinded by my previous successes that until then I had not noticed what I was doing was the wrong attitude toward chess, and my style or attitude had realized its limitations. For more about what exactly that entails, look at the coaching tab. I then took the summer off from tournaments, and I studied almost every day with the 3 best friends I’ve ever had in David Pruess, Josh Friedel and Vinay Bhat. Following that summer, I had not only become a stronger player in general but my attitude toward the game completely changed. From August 2007 to October 2008, I went from a no-name 2200 USCF to an IM rated over 2450 FIDE, as well as becoming the youngest California adult state champion ever at 16. Just a month later, I would go to Vietnam to play the World u18 championship. Initially I was not even invited by USCF because I needed to be a certain rating as of April, and one of my results was not submitted in a timely manner. The head of the US delegation, FM Aviv Friedman, helped to get me a spot on the team, which I am eternally grateful for. I also must say I think he made the right choice, as I went on to tie for first place and become the 2008 World under 18 co-champion, receiving the bronze medal on tiebreaks. This would be my biggest claim to fame to date. Since then my FIDE rating has increased to nearly 2500 and I have 2 of the three required norms to become a Grandmaster, and I’m still an active tournament player and searching for the final norm. |
Timeline
1991- Born in Berkeley 1997- Learned how to play chess 2000- Took my first chess class 2001- Played my first tournament 2006- Became an NM 2008- March: got 5/7 in a US Championship qualification tournament, and became the youngest OTB qualifier in California History May: Took clear first in the Tuesday Night Marathon in San Francisco with the only perfect score ever even to this day, when over 30 TNMs have been played. This would be my last small local tournament. July: Beat my first grandmaster, a crushing attacking game with the black pieces against GM Shabalov in round 1 of the World Open July: Made my first IM norm (World Open) July: Won the Pacific coast open, defeating GM Erenburg in a 70 move final round game July: Was officially granted the FIDE Master Title September: Won the Calchess State Championship- the youngest ever at 16 years October: Tied for first place at the World U18 Championship in Vung Tau, Vietnam November: Was officially granted the International Master title December: First place u2500 in the North American open in Las Vegas, with a crushing win against another young American talent, Robert Hess, in round 4. 2009- April: won the tournament of state champions to qualify OTB (over the board) for the US Championship for the second year in a row June: Won the New York International, making my first GM norm. June: Third place at the Philadelphia international, making my second GM norm August: 5th place at the FIDE Open in Chicago, narrowly missing my third norm October: Second place at the First Saturday GM round robin November: Again, Second place at the First Saturday GM round robin November: Won the Calchess state Championship for the second year in a row. |