Drumroll please. . . AWONDER!
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By Sophie P. and Joseph
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By Sophie P. and Joseph
Earlier this quarter, our classmate Awonder had attended two back to back weeklong chess tournaments in St. Louis and Detroit. There were four days in between. He endured many hours of playing. If he felt he was winning, the time would fly by. But if he was losing, the time slowed to a crawl. That’s relativity! (Not really.) During the tournament, he feels calm, not too excited nor sad. If he loses, he just learns from it and moves on.
Some unusual things happened during the tournaments. Once, dining at the hotel restaurant, the family’s pasta was too salty. Awonder’s dad called over the chef and said it was salty. The chef stuck his finger in and made a yuck face. They got their pasta replaced. Also, during one of his matches there was a loud, distracting Halloween party across the hall. He saw Halt from the Ranger’s Apprentice series along with many other costumes. Usually, chess tournaments are silent and focused. The party didn’t exactly help make it stay that way.
Awonder’s ranking is about 10,000th in the world, he estimates. His goal is to move up in his ranking, but during individual competitions with adults, he just wants to earn a few points and sharpen his playing skills. When he beats a high ranked player, he is not really expecting it to happen, but it is not surprising. Losing to a person that is at his level can make him concerned. So in the World Youth competition, with his age group, he wants to get as high of a score as possible. If he loses his points go down. If he beats higher opponents he will get more points. Nevertheless, he is the youngest chess master in this history of the US and the youngest to beat a grandmaster in US history. Awonder would like to become the youngest international master. During the tournament, he did well and gained a total of around 25 points.
You may wonder why he puts such time and energy into the game. Every day, he spends all his free time practicing his chess skills. He says that he has set his path straight and chess is already part of him. His dad coaches him and helps him improve his game. Even though his dad is his coach, he has a regular meeting twice a year for special lessons with Garry Kasparov, who is considered to be the best chess player of modern times.
In the future, Awonder would like to donate money to charity or chess foundations.“I want to see chess rise as a more prominent national figure,” he says. Also, he would like to gain more support, compared to other sports. “Football is much bigger!” he says. He would establish a foundation supporting chess players.
Awonder has some tips for doing great things. “If you want to do something, you have to be aware that you can’t be pessimistic nor too optimistic.” He states that if you are pessimistic you just become more and more pessimistic. And if you lose hope you get nowhere. “Put forth your best effort, but don’t expect great changes nor expect to fail.” It looks like achieving greatness is all about resilience, a good reminder for all of us.
Some unusual things happened during the tournaments. Once, dining at the hotel restaurant, the family’s pasta was too salty. Awonder’s dad called over the chef and said it was salty. The chef stuck his finger in and made a yuck face. They got their pasta replaced. Also, during one of his matches there was a loud, distracting Halloween party across the hall. He saw Halt from the Ranger’s Apprentice series along with many other costumes. Usually, chess tournaments are silent and focused. The party didn’t exactly help make it stay that way.
Awonder’s ranking is about 10,000th in the world, he estimates. His goal is to move up in his ranking, but during individual competitions with adults, he just wants to earn a few points and sharpen his playing skills. When he beats a high ranked player, he is not really expecting it to happen, but it is not surprising. Losing to a person that is at his level can make him concerned. So in the World Youth competition, with his age group, he wants to get as high of a score as possible. If he loses his points go down. If he beats higher opponents he will get more points. Nevertheless, he is the youngest chess master in this history of the US and the youngest to beat a grandmaster in US history. Awonder would like to become the youngest international master. During the tournament, he did well and gained a total of around 25 points.
You may wonder why he puts such time and energy into the game. Every day, he spends all his free time practicing his chess skills. He says that he has set his path straight and chess is already part of him. His dad coaches him and helps him improve his game. Even though his dad is his coach, he has a regular meeting twice a year for special lessons with Garry Kasparov, who is considered to be the best chess player of modern times.
In the future, Awonder would like to donate money to charity or chess foundations.“I want to see chess rise as a more prominent national figure,” he says. Also, he would like to gain more support, compared to other sports. “Football is much bigger!” he says. He would establish a foundation supporting chess players.
Awonder has some tips for doing great things. “If you want to do something, you have to be aware that you can’t be pessimistic nor too optimistic.” He states that if you are pessimistic you just become more and more pessimistic. And if you lose hope you get nowhere. “Put forth your best effort, but don’t expect great changes nor expect to fail.” It looks like achieving greatness is all about resilience, a good reminder for all of us.