Jun+Lee

== My name is Jun and I have many passions but my favourite would have to be chess. I have been to the Intermediate Chess Nationals after coming first with my team in the Regionals. I think the game is amazing since there are more possibilities to the game than the number of atoms in the entire universe! (1 million atoms can stretch across your fingernail!) Many people know how to play, and FIDE (biggest chess organisation) estimates that 550 million people know how to play! (There are only 4 million people who live in NZ! There must be a lot of chess players!) My favourite opening would have to be the Ruy Lopez, created by a spanish priest in either the 16th or 15th century. ==

[[image:http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/images/RuyLopez.jpg width="300" height="298"]]
== The Intermediate Chess nationals was a two day event held in Hastings and started on Saturday, 9 in the morning! Gi lee was coming with me, and we had to wake up 4 in the morning to get there on time. It was tough. In the end I won 4 games, drew 2 and lost two. I would of done better since I wasn't supposed be in 2nd position in my team, I was supposed to be third! Considering these facts, and the fact that these players I am facing are regional winners (of whatever region they are from) I think I did exceptionally well. ==

Champion, 2007 and 2008 (current champ). Champion before Anand, 2000-2006 (including 2000 and 2006).
==  ==

//Bronze medal for the women's team of the USA// // Silver medal for the women's team of Ukraine// // Gold for the women of Georgia// //Bronze in the Open Section for USA (yes, he is sticking out his tongue)// //Silver for the Israeli men's team// //Gold for the Armenians, for the second time in succession// **Honestly, have you ever heard of a tournament that not a single person cheated? For example, the Olympics is practically a drug addict's paradise. Yes, there were cheaters in the Chess Olympiad tournament too. As part of FIDE's crazy dreams of getting chess accepted as a sport in the Olympic Games, they are currently bending over backwards to meet the entry requirements set out by the IOC (International Olympic Committee). One of these requires the drug testing of participants. Anyway, there were two scandals in the tournament, the main one involving drugs. One of the players, Vassily Ivanchuk from Ukraine refused to have his drug test therefore FIDE considers this to be a positive, and if FIDE choose to follow the rules to the letter, this means the Ukrainian team should have all their results annulled and the medal placings recalculated. If Fide does choose to do that, the US team would have to forfeit their bronze medal to Hungary who would then have a higher score after removing the Ukrainian results.** Jun <- Closest thing to Vishy Anand. "Spark!" I seem to have a new favourite opening. Queens Gambit accepted. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 ** **The** **waste of the pawn might seem pointless but there are a number of reasons this opening can be very useful. The black pawn has veered of course and is now vulnerable to attack. Also it opens up the powerful queen to the a4-d1 diagonal. A possible continuation is 3.Qa4+ Bd7 4.Qxc4 so white gains back that pawn. I would prefer to do 3.e3 Be6 4.Qa4+ Nd7 5.Bxc4 Bxc4 6.Qxc4.** Tips for beginners: The opening is a very important part of a chess game. The aim in the opening is to capture the centre. The centre is the four middle squares. If you dominate these squares in the opening, you will have a great positional advantage throughout the game. Many people who aren't good chess players would do this dumb opening: 1.a4
 * I'm so bored.