Nico Chasin & Eddy Tian Top Seeds in 5th Grade: "As Long As You Try Your Hardest"

Eddy Tian (NJ) and Nico Chasin (NY) enter the fifth grade section at the K-12 National Championships as the top two seeds.  Eddy says that he prepared for the tournament with tactics and is even working on a tactics book himself! Eddy will certainly be a very young author, as he is about to celebrate his 11th birthday during the event, on December 10th. Nico said that his favorite thing about the location, was to hang out by the lake, where he once saw an alligator. To prepare for the event, Nico is reading Half a Century of Chess (available at US Chess Sales) by Mikhail Botvinnik, as well as generally thinking over his strengths and weaknesses.  His words of advice: "Don't get nervous; it doesn't mean anything if you don't do well as long as you try your hardest!" Look for more highlighted players as the K-12 gets started.  Join the conversation and share your own photos and stories using the hashtag #K12ChessChamps on twitter and instagram, where Greg Shahade and Vanessa Sun will update. Follow pairings and results on the official site.