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Jack Mizzi is a Maltese chess player. Jack was born on the 17 May 2006 in Malta. He is the current U-20 Junior Champion in Malta. Jack is the youngest chess player[1] to have won the Preliminaries[2] in Malta at 13 years old.
| Jack Mizzi | |
|---|---|
 Jack Mizzi in 2022 | |
| Country | Malta |
| Born | 17 May 2006 |
| Title | Arena International Master |
| FIDE rating | 2059 |
| Peak rating | 2059 (October 2022) |
Chess career
[edit]Early Days
[edit]
Jack started learning chess in 2016 at the age of 10. His debut in FIDE-rated competitions started in the Preliminaries 2017[3] where he obtained his initial ELO rating of 1478. A notable win in the Preliminaries 2017 was that against WCM Uranchimeg Psaila, who was part of the Malta National Woman Team.
In 2017, 11-year old Jack (ELO 1475) became the Malta U14 Rapid Junior Champion[4] winning 5 out of 5 games and obtained an ELO performance of 2068.
Romania-EYCC 2017
[edit]
Later that year, he represented Malta in his first international tournament: the European Youth Chess Championships (EYCC) [5][6]. Jack (ELO 1508) won his second game against Gamsa Clemens (ELO 1731) from Switzerland who was accompanied by his coach Artur Yusupow.
In 2018 Jack became the U14 Junior Champion for the second time. He participated in the Preliminaries 2018 and qualified for the first time for the Candidates 2018, where he managed to obtain 3 points.
Latvia-EYCC 2018
[edit]
In Summer 2018, Jack (ELO 1575) represented Malta in the European Youth Chess Championships in Latvia , with an important win against Davidov Lazar (ELO 1763) from Serbia.
Simultaneous exhibition 2018
[edit]
In December 2018, 12-year-old Jack gave a 2.5-hour long simultaneous chess exhibition at the Birkirkara local council against 13 players and won all games. The event was filmed in its entirety[7] using a mobile phone and was broadcasted live on social media.
Blitz event
[edit]He placed second in the FIDE-rated Blitz tournament that followed the simultaneous chess event.
A new Malta record
[edit]Preliminaries 2019
[edit]
In 2019, 13-year-old Jack broke a Malta record[1] as the youngest player to have ever won the Preliminaries unbeaten with 5.5/7.
Gaining experience through tournaments
[edit]Candidates 2019
[edit]This meant another qualification in the Candidates 2019 where Jack placed in the 15th place.
CIS 2019
[edit]
Main event
[edit]In March 2019, Jack played for the first time in a team tournament in Sicily in CIS 2019 and was again unbeaten. He finished the tournaments with 4/5 points.
Blitz event
[edit]Jack obtained 4/9 in the Blitz tournament.
Malta Junior Championships 2019
[edit]
In the 2019 Junior Championships, Jack tied for 1st place with Cosmin Alexa but was ultimately awarded the U-18 Junior Champion.
Bratislava - EYCC 2019
[edit]
Main event
[edit]Jack participated in the European Youth Chess Championships 2019 in Bratislava with an important win against Heldenbergh Nils from Belgium.
Blitz event
[edit]Jack placed 6th in the Blitz tournament that was part of the event.
Prize-giving ceremony 2019
[edit]
Open tournament in Austria 2019/2020
[edit]
Main event
[edit]In December 2019 through the start of January 2020, Jack played in his first open tournament overseas in Schwanberg, Austria where he obtained 4 draws.
Blitz event
[edit]Jack played in the Blitz event and obtained a performance rating of 2074.
As Jack flew back to Malta, news about the COVID-19 pandemic started to pour and most tournament play on the board stopped abruptly.
Interschool tournament
[edit]
Jack participated for the final time in the Interschool chess tournament in March 2020 which he won with 7/7.
After this tournament, the Malta Chess Federation (MCF) as well as the European Chess Union (ECU) and FIDE stopped the organisation of all on-the-board tournaments. In 2020 the Junior championships and the European Youth Chess Championships were not held due to the pandemic.
To mitigate the situation FIDE, ECU and MCF decided to organise online tournaments.
Online Olympiads 2020
[edit]Jack represented Malta in Division 4 of the online FIDE Olympiads that were held for the first time ever in 2020. Jack obtained an exceptional result with 6.5/9 and was Malta's top player. This resulted in Malta qualifying to Division 3. Jack again had a good performance with 4.5/9 but Malta was eliminated after this phase.
Candidates 2020
[edit]
In July 2020, there was a relaxation of the Covid measures in Malta and the Malta Chess Federation organised the candidates tournament. Jack placed 5th. Soon after, chess on the board was prohibited again.
Blitz and Rapid Grand Prix 2021
[edit]Jack played and dominated the Blitz and Rapid Grand Prix that were a series of tournaments organised by the Malta Chess Federation in an attempt to increase players morale during the pandemic.
The Malta Chess Federation said that Jack won the tournament in "style" and went on to say that " In the Blitz, Mizzi won 4 tournaments and third in one collecting 46 points out of a maximum of 50. In the Rapid, Mizzi won 3 tournaments and ended runner-up in the other two and also collected 46 points."[8]
On the board tournaments during Covid
[edit]Despite fear in most countries, some European countries started organising on-the-board tournaments.
Suwalki, Poland 2021
[edit]
Main event
[edit]At the end of July 2021, Jack was invited to play in Poland in the Irene Warajomskiej Memorial and this proved to be one of the hardest tournaments that Jack had ever played. Despite a result of 5/9 with only 1 loss, 2 wins and 6 draws, Jack's ELO rating suffered a reduction of 55.
Blitz event
[edit]Jack also participated in the Blitz tournament where he met strong opponents including GM Bartosz Soćko.
This tournament was a turning point in Jack's career because of the many lessons learnt.
Sicily, CIS 2021
[edit]
Jack was invited to play for ASD Pedone Isolano, a club in Sicily. Jack had obtained 3 wins, suffered one loss, and in the last game he managed to obtain the crucial draw that was required for the "promozione". As a result, Jack and his team managed to get promoted from Serie C to Serie B amidst huge celebrations.
Candidates 2021 redux
[edit]
The MCF decided to hold the Candidates 2021 in what was nicknamed a redux version after it had to be rescheduled because of the pandemic [9]. Wearing masks, Jack managed to obtain one of his best results: 2nd place in the tournament.
Junior Championships 2021
[edit]Jack participated in the 2021 Junior Championships and once more was unbeaten winning the U18 Junior Champion title again.
ESNA Blitz 2021
[edit]
Jack also played in ESNA Blitz championship in Malta and managed to draw against WGM Berend Elvira.
2021 Final Championships
[edit]
Jack participated for the first time in the final phase of the championships that were held Dec 21-Jan 2022. Jack had a great[10] performance finishing in 3rd place.
Junior Champion
[edit]
In March 2022, Jack at 16-years became Malta's U20 Chess Junior Champion with 6.5/7.
Candidates 2022
[edit]The Candidates 2022 posed a big challenge for Jack. He ended up in 10th place, which was a big step back from the previous year.
Post-covid
[edit]After the Candidates 2022, Jack embarked on the toughest challenge yet: 4 back-to-back tournaments. The path was: India - Romania - Liechtenstein - Malta and in all 4 countries Jack was playing in International tournaments (with one restricted to European small nations only).
Chess Olympiads, a chess player's dream
[edit]_with_the_Malta_National_team_in_the_Chennai_Olympiads.jpg)
Jack's win of the Junior Champion U-20 earned him a place in the Malta National Chess Team. In August 2022, Jack participated for the first time[11][12] in the 44th Chess Olympiads that were held in Chennai and obtained 3 wins and a draw.
Romania once more
[edit]
Jack played in the World Youth Chess Championships in September 2022 in what proved to be a very tough tournament with an ELO 54 loss. These championships were held in Mamaia, Romania.
European Small Nations 2022
[edit]
Two weeks later, in October 2022 he represented Malta in the 4th European Small Nations Championships that were held in Liechtenstein and finished in 5th place[13][14][15][16][17] and gained 144 ELO points. Jack had important wins against IM Berend Fred (ELO 2300) and FM Michaelides Konstantinos (ELO 2304).
World Amateurs Chess Championships 2022
[edit]
In October 2022 Jack, participated in the World Amateur Chess Championships that were held in Malta.
Blitz event
[edit]Jack placed 4th in the Blitz tournament which was part of the World Amateur Chess Championships 2022
Main event
[edit]In the main event of classical chess, Jack won 3 games including a win against Alex Cherniak (ELO 2246) and obtained two draws including one with CM Panjkovic Aleksandar (ELO 2110).
At the start of the World Amateur Championships, Jack's ELO rating was 1808 and this, together with other competitive games, led to an increased ELO of 251 in one period, setting a new national record.
- ^ a b Weenink, Steffie; Weenink, Steffie (15 March 2019). "WATCH: This 12-Year-Old Boy Might Be Well On His Way To Becoming Malta's Youngest Chess Champion". Lovin Malta. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Preliminaries 2021 - Malta Chess Federation". 30 May 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Preliminaries 2017". chess-results.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Malta U-14 Chess Championship 2017". chess-results.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - European Youth Chess Championship 2017". chess-results.com. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ "Maltese juniors set for Euros". Times of Malta. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ Jack Mizzi Simultaneous Chess 29 12 2018, retrieved 8 November 2022
- ^ "Jack Mizzi wins Blitz and Rapid Online Grand Prix - Malta Chess Federation". 30 May 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
- ^ "Candidates 2021 redux - Malta Chess Federation". 17 October 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Robert Zerafa wins Malta Chess Championship". SportsDesk. 19 January 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Malta participating at the Chess Olympiads in India". Times of Malta. 27 June 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Maltese national teams halfway through the 44th Chess Olympiad". 6 August 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ Sport, minn TVM. "Ċess: Jack Mizzi jipparteċipa fil-Kampjonat ESNA". TVMnews.mt. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "16-year-old Jack Mizzi makes waves at international chess tournament". www.guidememalta.com. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Ċess: Riżultat prestiġjuż għal Jack Mizzi fil-Kampjonat tal-ESNA f'Liechtenstein". NETnews (in Maltese). 5 October 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Jack Mizzi jikklassifika fil-ħames post fil-Kampjonat taċ-Ċess tal-Pajjiżi ż-Żgħar għall-Ewropa - ONE". 3 October 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Lance Henderson wins European Small Nations Championship". Chess News. 3 October 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.