Well, not literally. Chess is all year round, but everything will be in full swing after this weekend. This weekend I will play in the Kingstowne Chess Festival, and I will round out the month with the Washington Chess Congress and the Emporia Open. In addition to my tournaments, my school team is hosting its first free chess clinic of the school year on Monday, and will have a match against George Mason University on Wednesday.

With a loaded schedule, here is what I hope to accomplish by December:

1) Break 2000

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but with five tournaments on my agenda between now and December, earning 55 points seems perfectly reasonable. By breaking the expert threshold, I could be ranked as high as 60th nationally for my age when I turn 18 in November.

2) Beat a Titled Player

This was also one of my summer goals. However, with my only chance being my Virginia Closed opening round against Grandmaster Sergey Erenburg, I still have yet accomplish this feat. With a much more solid opening repertoire and tactical arsenal, I think I’m in a much better position to accomplish this goal.

3) Earn my first Candidate Master Norm

One of my long term goals is to earn the CM title before I head to college next year. Earning a norm now means getting a title later.

With my chess calendar full, I’m looking forward to the competition.