My WGM Title: North American Junior U20 Girls

The North American Junior Chess Championships are an annual event, with its location rotating between the three countries of North America. This year, I played for the second time in the U20 Girls. The prize for first place was the WIM title (which I already earned) and a WGM norm. 

In the first round, I played Peishanika Arnold (1660 USCF, 1763 FIDE). It was an instructive game against the Najdorf Sicilian, exploiting positional weaknesses that Black can unknowingly create if they don't know their theory. 

I had a few nice tactics from the rest of the tournament as well. Can you spot the winning moves? 

Solutions: 

1. 1...Bxh6! 2. Qxh6 f5! wins. The game continued 3. Qg5 Qxg5 4. Nxg5 Rxc3 5. e3 Ba2! and Black wins the exchange. 

2. 1.Bxb7 wins a pawn after 1...Bxb7 and 2.Qb5!

3. 1...Bxf5 2. Qxf5 Qd2! and White is losing material.

I ended with 8.5/9 which won the tournament. The WGM norm was my last, and because I had already crossed the FIDE rating requirement, I will officially be a Woman Grandmaster after FIDE's next congress!

I'd like to thank all the people who've helped me reach this milestone, including my friends, coaches, and most importantly, my parents who've supported me from the very first day. I appreciate everything they've ever done for me, and hopefully this is only the beginning :) 

Until next time, ChessKids!