Alberta Junior Chess Championships 2009

Unexpectedly, I decided to play in the Alberta Junior, and got a spot because Tony Cai dropped out. I was basically playing for the title, and also a warm-up for the WYCC, which I am leaving for today.
The first day, I arrived to play Diwen Shi as black in round 1. He's rated around 1500, and due to a tactical error, I won. Second round, I played Yuekai Wang as white, I had a good Rossolimo going, then I created pressure on the queenside and was soon +-. Unfortunately, I overplayed my rook, and missed a break which he saw and equalized. It was very hard to push for a win, so after an hour, we drew. Third round, I played David Miller (1670) as black, I was very tired and wasn't paying that much attention, and he definitely took control on the queenside. It was still equal, according to Fritz, but after I made a huge mistake letting his rooks flow in and he won an extra pawn. Seeing that I was almost completely lost, I offered a draw, and because of my rating, he accepted.
Nicka Kalaydina (Second seed) had just drawn Yuekai, and was leading the section by 0.5, the only way I could get the title is if I beat her, and thus I'd win on tiebreak (Head to head, cumulative etc.)
Third day, I started off white playing Nicka Kalaydina, it was pretty much just a standard Shevenigen without a6. It was very equal the whole game, although I had a bit of a space advantage. Then I broke through and she made the mistake of exchanging her good piece, thus after a series of mistakes, I won. Fifth round, I played Naveed Virji, lowest seed coming into the tourny, I quickly won the exchange in a Panov-Botvinnik attack and soon he resigned.
I played badly and my rating will go down 12 points from 2101, but let this be a good warm-up for the WYCC. At least I got the title and funding to go to the 2010 CJCC. :)

Sidenote: The AJCC was the best tournament, in all aspects, in my opinion. I've been to 4 national tournaments, and this tournament, directed by Simon Ong, was very professional, with closing and opening ceremonies, refreshments, an appeal committee etc. I would like to thank him for making this tournament a great success.

See you all in Turkey!