My Adventurous Gold Medal Run

NM Alice Lee won the gold medal in the U-12 Girls Section in the 2020 FIDE World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships held online. She became the winner following a continental qualification tournament and a 16-person world-stage knockout championship event in December, 2020. This is her second world title, following a previous gold medal performance in the 2019 World Cadets Chess Championships in the U-10 Girls section. Alice is also the co-host of "Alice's Pawn Palace" show on ChessKid!

Qualification Event

I nearly failed to qualify for the 2020 FIDE World Youth and Cadets Rapid Chess
Championships. The qualification event featured 32 top girls under 12 from the Americas for three qualifying spots in the FIDE World event. The 7-round Swiss tournament with a time control of 10 minutes and 3-second increment turned out to be highly topsy-turvy since wins and losses were often determined by decisions made in seconds.

I was the top seed in the Americas, and I won the first two rounds on day one of the
qualification tournament. However, the games on day two didn’t go quite as well when the event started after an exhausting school day. I lost Round 3 after mishandling my time in a complicated middle game, meaning that another loss would knock me out of the world event.

After a win in round 4, I was matched against a player from Costa Rica in the 5th round. I went up by a pawn early in the game, but a weak pawn structure led to the loss of multiple pawns in the late middle game. I was once down by four pawns in a rook-bishop-pawn endgame, but fought back to be down by two pawns. Even then, it seemed to be a game lost. Fortunately, I found the critical move to draw the game. I was very relieved after the miracle draw and slept soundly that night.

I faced a must-win situation twice on day three of the tournament. I managed to win both
games. When the dust was settled, I finished in second place with a score of 5.5/7, and qualified for the main FIDE event in my section. I was grateful for drawing round 5. I would not have qualified if I had lost that game. I was ecstatic! When I qualified, I looked like this: 

Alice Lee reviewing an Armageddon game played at the 2020 FIDE World Cadets and Youth Rapid Chess Championships. Photo courtesy Lee family.

World Stage Knockout Event

The main tournament was played with a slightly longer time control: 15 minutes plus 10  seconds increment. But instead of the traditional Swiss format, it was a 16-player knockout  tournament. In my section, there were two top seeds from Russia that automatically qualified, four Americans, and top players from Asia, Africa, and Europe that qualified from the continental events.

I know some of these players from previous World Cadets events. There were Indonesia’s WFM Samantha Edithso, the 2018 U10 girls gold medalist; Russia’s WFM Alexandra  Shvedova, the 2018 U10 girl silver medalist; and Mongolia’s WCM Davaakhuu Unurzul, the  2016 U8 girls silver medalist, along with many other notable players. They are experienced and well trained and many are national heroes.  

This was the first time that I played in a knockout tournament. The 16 players formed 8  pairs in Round 1. It was stressful. I was paired against WCM Unurzul and we played two games against each other with alternating colors. I won the first game as white after she lost a rook to a  double attack tactic. Game 2 was hard. I lost a pawn in the early middle game, but managed to  blockade her pawn and played the game to a draw. With a score of 1.5/2, I won the match and  advanced to the quarterfinal. 

In the quarterfinal, I played against WCM Iris Mou, my USA teammate and chess friend, and a two-time all-girls national champion. I was white in game one. The game was equal for a  long time until I found a tactic that temporarily sacrificed a bishop that won me a pawn (Figure  1). I later converted the pawn advantage and won the game. In game 2, we played out another  balanced opening, but while attempting to mount an attack on my king, Iris lost a rook to a  knight fork and later the game. I advanced to the semifinal. 

 Quarterfinal match. Black had just played 23..a5? Can you spot the piece sacrifice that can win White a pawn?

For the exciting conclusion of Alice's event, check out part 2!