November 28, 2023 02:39pm
Congratulations to Itmam, in Year 7, who has qualified to play in the 2023 London Junior Chess Championship which will be held at the end of December!
Itmam has been pursuing chess professionally for one year and has played in tournaments such as the Hampshire Chess Congress. He was inspired by his dad to play chess and has been playing for 4 years, starting with school chess clubs and reading books about chess. To qualify for the London Junior Chess Championship, Itmam participated in the Hampshire Junior Chess Championship, held in Winchester earlier this month, where he won 4 of the 6 rounds he played.
He says he isn’t nervous when he plays in tournaments, but he sometimes feels sad if he doesn’t perform well. Itmam says,
‘It’s okay to be upset if you don’t perform well. You just have to lift yourself up or you won’t be a good chess player. If you have a bad result, you can take a break and you’ll feel better and play better.’
One of Itmam’s tips for winning at chess is to use the Queen’s Gambit as the opening move if you have the white pieces. If you have the black pieces, use the Caro-Kann or the Scillian, for more advanced players, to make your opening move.
Itmam enjoys chess most when he is playing against an opponent in person, rather than online or in a video game. He wants to play in more tournaments, become better at chess and one day become a chess Grandmaster!
We’re delighted for Itmam and we wish him the best of luck in his upcoming tournament!