I’m in Kecskemet, Hungary about 1 hr from Budapest, playing chess in a strong tournament. I drew 3 games with opponents over 1843, and drew one game with someone 2131. I have learnt a lot from this tournament. Having faith and confidence in my ability is the biggest lesson learnt, after asking for a draw in a winning game to me. Many people asked why I did this and my answer is that I felt my opponent had to be more experienced in the endgame and I didn’t want to take the chance. But taking chances, like in life, I had to do it to find out. It turned out I had the better chances of a win. So next time for sure!

So playing on and staying focused in the face of being possibly defeated by a stronger player, and believing I always have a chance to win is the way to go.

My facebook friends kept me strong with great advice on how to keep on playing to the end!

Kecskemet – A beautiful town.

What a surprise to find out that it is the birth place of Kodaly Zolton. I studied Kodaly music training when I was about 5 years old until graduation, at the Vancouver Academy of Music in my hometown Vancouver, Canada.

Zoltán Kodály

Here is a video of me singing in a Kodaly recital when I was 8 years old. A fun memory for me!