At the 32nd National Under-7 Chess Championship, hosted at Tumkur, Karnataka, from 16th to 24th July, 2018, Ethan exhibited amazing chess acumen and surprised everyone by winning one of the top 20 prizes in the Open category.
We couldn’t have asked for more from 6-year old Ethan, who has been learning chess for barely 8 months when compared to many of his competitors who have been learning chess for a few years, some of whom were even participating in the Under-7 National championship for the 3rd year in succession.
It was Ethan’s first ever tournament outside of Goa, and he took some time to get used to the change as he lost his initial round and settled for draws in the 2nd and 4th rounds, one of which he could have easily won, had he not accepted the offered draw.
However, once he got into the groove after the initial few days, there was no stopping him. Usually, average players win the initial rounds and then lose out as the rounds get tougher. In case of Ethan, however, he was on fire as he won 5 straight rounds from the 5th to the 9th round. As the saying goes, “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”. And that’s exactly how it was for Ethan.
However, Ethan’s hopes of a podium finish were shattered in the 10th and penultimate round, when he lost to the top ranked player (having a FIDE rating of 1239 Elo points) after a grueling match that lasted for two and a half hours and went down to the last pawn in as long as 74 moves.
He went on to win the 11th and last round thereafter, to secure his trophy in his first ever tournament away from Goa – one that he would cherish for a long long time to come. Ethan Vaz bagged the 13th place in the Open category contested by a total of 214 players, by securing 8 points – just one point less than the player who made to the podium finish.