Jay Sawant(CAN) First U14-Las Vegas 2013-Followup

Canadian junior Jay Sawant of the Golden Knight Chess Club in Burnaby, BC won the U14 section of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival.

Jay Sawant

From Jay
I got introduced to chess when I was 6 years old when I used to play with my friends and my grand mother as a board game for fun. I never imagined that I will play this game one day at an international level. My grandmother taught me how to sacrifice a piece to get opponents stronger piece. She used to tell me "offer a burger" to win opponents better piece. My mom took my interest to the next level by supporting me in every way. Thanks to my parents. 

I started participating in competitive chess tournaments from Dec 2012. My dad brought me to the Las Vegas chess tounament and I felt as if I was on vacation. Earlier this year, I came first in the "Vancouver Chess Challenge" and the "Fraser Valley Chess Challenge", but winning this International youth chess  tournament and the puzzle competition turned out to be my most exciting experience and first big achievement in my life. 

The great training and guidance that I received from my coach made me very confident to play in this tournament. Winning the Las Vegas tournament is a great motivation for me and I look forward in participating in upcoming tournaments.

I wish to thank Eugen(Coach Valer Eugen Demian), Kevin(GM Spraggett) and Michael(Yip-CanadaChessNews) for recognizing and appreciating my achievements.

Regards-Digvijay Sawant

Jay Sawant(CAN) First U14-Las Vegas 2013

First!!
Canadian junior Jay Sawant of the Golden Knight Chess Club in Burnaby, BC won the U14 section of the Las Vegas International Chess Festival.

Jay Sawant

From Jay
"I got introduced to chess when I was 6 years old when I used to play with my friends and my grand mother as a board game for fun. I never imagined that I will play this game one day at an international level. My grandmother taught me how to sacrifice a piece to get opponents stronger piece. She used to tell me "offer a burger" to win opponents better piece. My mom took my interest to the next level by supporting me in every way. Thanks to my parents. 

I started participating in competitive chess tournaments from Dec 2012. My dad brought me to the Las Vegas chess tounament and I felt as if I was on vacation. Earlier this year, I came first in the "Vancouver Chess Challenge" and the "Fraser Valley Chess Challenge", but winning this International youth chess tournament and the puzzle competition turned out to be my most exciting experience and first big achievement in my life. 

The great training and guidance that I received from my coach made me very confident to play in this tournament. Winning the Las Vegas tournament is a great motivation for me and I look forward in participating in upcoming tournaments.

I wish to thank Eugen, Kevin and Michael for recognizing and appreciating my achievements.

Regards-Digvijay Sawant"

From GM Spraggett's Blog
Canadian youngster Jay Sawant of the Golden Knight Chess Club in Burnaby, BC scored the biggest success of his LIFE by winning the U14 section of the prestigious Las Vegas International Chess Festival. Not only did Jay win all of his games (!) but he also participated in and won first prize ( U1000-rated ) at the Puzzle competition!(more)

More Drama

”I don’t want to upset you (or him), but I’m not sure it’s worthy of publication. It sure is a nice accomplishment, and please congratulate him for me if you see him, but most readers will not really pay attention to the article if there’s no strong Canadian player or at least many young players. Unfortunately, one youngster is probably not enough, even though he won his section.”-Felix Dumont, CFC Newsfeed Manager(story to be continued)

Note: From Hugh Brodie on Chesstalk
At the National Open, there were two U14 events - an Open and a U1000 event. Jay Sawant (and Eric Shan of California) were co-winners of the U1000 event. There were 57 players in the Open - some rated as high as 1919; 71 players in the U1000. http://www.uschess.org/content/view/10014/624/

This is definitely a great story and good enough for the international audience of CanadaChessNews.

Well done Jay.