Rank & File

than Greek history!
Back on track . . .
Game #6.
White against Bardiya Daneshvar
(FIDE 1897) from Iran . . . a painful
loss. Should have won this one , but
a fatal mistake at the end . . . agony .
Game #7.
Black against Neil Doknjas (Canada),
a win.
so many hours opens, the little blond
Russian boy runs out with his arms
in the air and a gigantic smile. Following
was Gabriel walking out slowly
just trying to hold himself up and
keep some dignity. He had lost. We
solemnly headed directly to the room,
bypassing the post game analysis.
The chess tragedy had struck. This
was the hardest moment in Gabriel’s
young chess “career”. I was actually
Wang (FIDE 2040). A draw.
Game #11.
Black against Lin Yingru from Spain
(FIDE 1915). A draw.
cb
The daily coaching was great. The
ratio of coaches/kids was 6:1. The
post game analysis was taking place
in the “Purple Bar” that actually had
a pretty pink glow and made the post
games analysis warm and cozy, particularly
after a win! The coaches
were there from 5-8.
Gabriel vs Andrey Tsvetkov
Game #8.
Gabriel is so thrilled to see his pairing,
he’s playing #2 seeded, Russian
Andrey Tsvetkov, FIDE 2174.
From Gabriel:
“I was curious to see how my chess
skills would measure up against some
of the best players in the world. Until
the very end, I felt really good about
my game against Andrey Tsvetkov. I
was completely winning this game, I
even turned down a draw offer from
my opponent. I sadly made another
fatal mistake toward the very end
and lost the game.”
It was over 4 1/2 hours into that
game and only another woman and
I were waiting, I figured it was Andrey’s
mom. The waiting area where
we, parents, were nervously awaiting
the verdicts of our children’s games
was quite crowded until about 2 1/2
to 3 hours into the game. Some of the
USA kids were reporting that Gabriel
was winning, I was still holding any
excitement. Finally, after an over 5
hour game, “THE” door of the playing
hall that we had been staring at for
very proud of him for turning down a
draw from such a high rated player,
he could have gained many rating
points but tried for a win, it didn’t go
his way but it showed strong chess
character, I’m sure the reward will
eventually come!
“Winning a winning game is the hardest
thing in chess” says coach Andranik
to Gabriel the next morning at
his coaching session. Sounds familiar?
For a 10 year old warrior going
to battle on the international scene
for the first time with a full intention
of medalling, a winning game lost at
the very end is unbearable. The more
at stake, the greater the sting, so understandably,
such a “chess tragedy”
becomes all the more painful in such
a tournament, but all part of the initiation
and certainly rich in learning
and growing!
Game #9.
Black against Youcheng Xiong from
China. A win!
Game #10.
White against fellow USA Jason
26 Rank & File Dec 2015-Jan-Feb 2016
www.scchess.com
cb
Gabriel has studied with coach Andranik
for some years but this hit a
whole different level. Andranik had
this amazing ability to predict every
opening that his opponent would play
with 100% accuracy! As a result Gabriel
was very strong in openings and
middle games except for the game
against Polish Oskar Oglaza (game
#3), where Gabriel prepared for some
Gabriel with coach Andranik
cb