A grandmaster I’ll never be

I started playing chess when I was six. I took private lessons and competed at the national level, only to grow up and realize that this wasn’t what I wanted to do with my life. So I quit competing, stuck to online bullet, and stayed away from tournaments. Then, in the summer of 2024, I heard about a competition at Hart House at the University of Toronto and signed up.

You know, sometimes it feels nice to see you’ve still got it. I finished first in the U1800 summer blitz championship, a reminder of the good old days. I used to dream of becoming a grandmaster. A chess grandmaster I’ll never be...