My Story with Chess

1. Becoming the Champion

18:11 Dutch local time on August 17th, 2023. Eindhoven, Netherlands — the site of the 2023 FIDE World Youth U16 Olympiad. The 8th round of the tournament had just ended, and we were still immersed in the tension of the game after returning to the hotel from the venue, when our head coach suddenly sent us a message: "Congratulations to our new world champions!" My teammates and I immediately cheered excitedly. We clinched the championship one round earlier!

FIDE World Youth U16 Olympiad is the largest and highest-level international youth chess event in the world. This year, it was hosted by the Netherlands Chess Association on the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Dutch Chess Association, with as many as 63 national teams participating — the most in history.

At 10:30 the next morning, we faced the Austria team at the ninth and final round. My three teammates and I didn't relax and continued to fight fiercely to achieve a big 3.5–0.5 win, marking a successful end to the overseas campaign. The China team won 8 rounds and tied one in total, winning the tournament with an undefeated record and a crushing advantage. The last time China won the U16 Olympic tournament was back in 2004. After a long 19 years, we won the championship again!

When the melody of our national anthem sounded, I was standing on the podium, wearing a five-star red flag, and holding the 1st place trophy high. My heart was full of pride!

2. My Chess Journey

It seems that I have been having a nice connection with chess since my early childhood, when I was a 6-year-old boy. I gazed at the chess pieces fighting on the board, and immediately came to interest. I understood the rules and basic theories of chess so quickly that I crushed my dad when I was seven. At the age of 8, I was promoted to a Chess Association Master — a relatively high-level title for an amateur player.

In the summer of 2017, my dad learnt that a notable chess coach, Grandmaster Zeng Chongsheng, was teaching a group of young enthusiasts in Nanshan Cultural and Sports Center. I was in an anxious mood when trying out Zeng's lesson. Surprisingly, even though I hadn't trained systematically before, Zeng praised my strong creativity after going through my games. I felt delighted having got the teacher's appreciation from the very first class.

Under the guidance of GM Zeng, my chess skills improved day by day. In 2018, I won the championship of the 10-year-old group of the Li Chengzhi National Youth Cup. In 2019, two months after my 10th birthday, I won 4th place in the 12-year-old group of the National Youth Cup. In the same year, I won the title of National Chess Athlete at the 4th National Mind Games and became the youngest national master in China at that time.

The unique feature of chess is the integration of logic, artistry and competition. When I was a kid, I was afraid of losing, so I often tried to offer draws to my opponent in complex positions. GM Zeng emphasized when analyzing my games that offering a draw is a sign of timidity: "A good chess player should always focus on the best moves, not the result. If you are afraid to lose, you'll only beat players who are clearly inferior than you, and you won't make any progress." I bear in mind his words. In every match ever since, instead of making draw offers easily, I would make attempts to keep pressure on my opponents, leaving no stone unturned in fighting it out till the end.

In early 2020, the sudden epidemic forced the cancellation of most over-the-board tournaments. However, I haven't put down my love for chess — whenever I had free time, I would play chess online, study chess books, or make game commentary videos. In May 2021, I got a rare opportunity to play in an over-the-board professional level tournament where dozens of Grandmasters and International Masters were participating. I entered with the mentality of learning from strong players. Unexpectedly, I managed to beat many international masters. Media reports exclaimed that I was the "Biggest Unexpected Force" of the tournament, and my performance caught the attention of Ye Jiangchuan, the Chairman of the Chinese Chess Association and head coach of China's national team.

In September 2022, I was invited to participate in the highest level of team chess tournament in China — the China Chess League A Tournament. I was thrilled to represent Shenzhen Chess Team alongside Grandmasters and play against strong professional players. I kept my calmness, not being afraid of my opponents no matter how famous and strong they were, and played in my own style, helping Shenzhen team win 4th place among 12 professional teams. I was awarded "Rookie of the Year" of the League A Tournament — a huge incentive for me.

For this year's FIDE U16 Olympiad, the leaders of China Chess Association selected 4 of the strongest youth players to form the strongest team, aiming for the championship in the Netherlands. As the highest-rated youth player in China, I was put on board 1, specially responsible for countering the strongest youth players from other nations. After nine rounds, I won 5, drew 4, and didn't lose a single game. In the words of our coach, I had "successfully accomplished my mission, laying good foundations for the team's success, with the solid high-quality game I had played in every round".

3. Joining SCIE

Last autumn, two senior friends who had been studying chess with me were enrolled in SCIE. They often shared their rich ECA activities and even set up their own chess club. I had just entered junior high school at that time, and my feeling of SCIE was: "Although it's beyond my reach right now, I yearn for it!"

Through careful preparation, I passed the SCIE entrance examination in March this year successfully. In May, the head coach of China's youth team invited me to participate in the upcoming FIDE U16 Olympiad. However, the tournament schedule was just at the beginning of the first week of SCIE. My parents sent an email to the Admissions Office and PSO to report the situation and ask if I could apply for a one-week leave. To our surprise, the teacher of PSO replied very soon that Ms. Clancy agreed to my participation, and even asked me to bring a house shirt to the Netherlands! I want to thank the teachers for their support, so that my dream of winning the U16 Olympiad could come true.

In the ECA fair last week, I applied to join the chess club of SCIE as I wished. I met my old chess buddies again, and I have the chance to make new chess friends now!

"Where of what's past is prologue." It has been two weeks since the school semester started, and I, a G1 rookie, am trying to learn and adapt to everything new here. I hope this ship of SCIE can carry me into a bright future. No limit to studying, and no limit to chess!