The going got harder after my first 3 rounds. The third day of play had two more games, meaning that I could expect another 8 hours of chess. I actually wound up still being the rating favourite in both games, because of a bunch of upsets on other boards, but never fear; I went on to play the top 3 seeds in a row, later in the tournament. Below I show the decisive turning points in both of my games on the event’s third day.

Round 4

Round 5

So I finished the day with 4/5, tied in 3rd place behind the runaway sensation 12-year-old Ashley Qian with her perfect score, and the tournament’s top seed, Canadian National Team member Li Yunshan, who had 4.5 points. I still had 4 more games to come, and I had no illusions; despite my loss in Round 5, I knew that things weren’t going to get any easier!