Meet the 2022 ChessKid All-Star of the Year
On December 17th, 18 players who won in this year's ChessKid Monthly Championships faced off to see which ChessKid would be crowned the 2022 ChessKid All-Star of the Year. NatWill won the day, with a score of 5.0/6!As the ChessKid All-Star of the Year, he'll receive a bunch of great swag from the ChessKid Store, as well as a one-on-one session with a top GM.
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Pictured: NatWill giving the camera a thumbs-up (left), NatWill playing chess at Union Square (top right), and NatWill at the Grade Nationals with other ChessKids including Fciwally and skeYoni (bottom right).
NatWill faced some adversity at the very start of the event: He lost his first match of the tournament against DannChess0123. However, rather than letting the loss set him back, it instead allowed him to just focus on playing his best chess.
"Having lost the first round, a lot of the pressure that I felt before the tournament had largely dissipated. I knew the stakes were high, but I was strangely calm throughout."
FunMasterMike and NM Lejean-Anusca Madalina-Marina commentate on the deciding match. Check out the video here (or click the image above)!
From that point on, Will went on a four-game streak to bring him to the final game against FciWally. The stakes were high; not only was his opponent a highly-rated player himself, but he was also one of Will's best friends.
"It's incredibly difficult to switch from cheering someone on to win the event to working as hard as I can to defeat them. The game was the longest, and most hard-fought. It was really down to the wire."
It was a tough match, but Will was able to pull off the win!
All in all, 2022 was an exciting year for NatWill. In his OTB chess career, he was able to raise his USCF rating from just under 1400 to nearly 2000 in the span of the year.
Some of his best performances at tournaments include coming in first place at the 2022 Virginia Closed Blitz Championship, and placing second in the 2022 National Elementary (K-6) Championship (in which he credited his success to meeting FunMasterMike).
He even had the chance to fulfil his dream of playing one of New York City's famous chess hustlers in Union Square last month!
After his performance in the ChessKid All-Star Finals, Will now has one more accomplishment to add to his list. How does he feel about it all?
"I was somewhat astonished. The competition was incredibly strong and I was not expecting to get clear first, especially after losing the first round. It was a great honor to participate in the tournament itself, let alone dream of winning."
Congratulations again to Will, and to everyone else who participated in this amazing tournament! We're looking forward to next year's edition already.