Vicki Yang, an alumna of the College Bound program, grew up playing in Chess in the Schools tournaments. Vicki would go on to play for the United States at the World Youth Championship in Greece. Currently, she is a college student at Hunter College, studying pre-med. Vicki believes she has learned important life skills through chess that have helped mold her into the person she is today.

Marilyn Lucero

Tell me about yourself.

Vicki Yang

My name is Vicki Yang. I grew up here in New York City. I currently live with my grandparents. I grew up with traditional Chinese values, most people in my family don’t have an education. I value academics, and my family taught me that to succeed in life you have to do well in school. when I was growing up. I am currently a college student majoring in biology, and I’m currently on the pre-med path. I enjoy trying to understand and help people who are going through a lot of health issues. I’m volunteering at a hospital to gain experience and help people.

ML

Who taught you how to play chess? How did it all start for you?

VY

It all started with my older brother. He joined the 503K Chess Club thinking it was a different type of gaming club. One day he told me he didn’t have to come straight home anymore because he was in this club. I told him, “That’s not very cool of you to leave me like that”, so I decided I too would join this club. It was a struggle to join the chess club because my aunt, my guardian at the time, thought it was a better idea for children to go straight home from school. I tried to persuade her, but she told me it would be better for me to ask my mom. So that’s exactly what I did, I asked my mom and she told me I could join. I ended up joining the chess club and learning alongside my brother. I ended up making a lot of friends who I still am in contact with today.

ML

What has been your experience learning chess?

VY

I think chess has impacted different parts of my life. One big one that I can think of right now is the way I approach different situations. I like to think a lot before I end up doing whatever it is I do. Whether it is to study for a test or plan out my future, I like to take in my options. I like planning and I think that stems from chess. In every game whenever you want to get closer to winning you have to think of ways and strategies to get the advantage. Also, chess is one of the first things that I had to fight to do in my life. I realized that it is possible to pursue something you truly believe in and do well at it as long as you like to put in the work and put in the time. Chess helped discipline me into pursuing things I believe in.

ML

Has there ever been a time when you felt overwhelmed by the male players around you?

VY

I think it is pretty crazy when you’re first starting with anything, it doesn’t even have to be chess, that you see a lot of guys. Since I started chess at such an early age, I thought of it as a friendly competition. There wasn’t a lot of pressure. I thought of it as an encouragement for me to do well. I wanted to prove myself as a girl in a male-dominated sport. I think later on in life, in high school, people started to question me. People would find it crazy that I was a chess player and a girl. I have a lot of guy friends who play chess, and I want to do better than all of them.

ML

Is there anyone you idolize? It could be a chess player or not.

VY

Growing up, there were always the best chess players in the world who are people you idolize and want to become like Magnus Carlson and Hou Yifan, but I feel like the people that motivate me are my coaches and my friends. I remember having this coach who was very close to my age. He was super entertaining to be around. I didn’t feel very stressed when I was learning directly from him. He would make everything super enjoyable because he was approachable. I think his personality and the way he taught were something that I wanted to internalize. I try to use that same approach when I teach my students right now. I tutor and I’m an after-school chess coach. I want to be super supportive and cool to be around.

ML

Chess as we know is a mental sport. People often overlook the idea that someone can struggle mentally. Chess players all experience the same feelings as other sports competitors such as anxiety, stress, and burnout. Has there ever been a moment when you felt like you were struggling mentally, and how did you overcome that?

VY

Chess was always fun and games until I got into high school. My middle school team, who I was super close with, separated. We all got into different schools and it all started to feel different. It was hard for me to adjust, especially in terms of academics. I went to Bard High School Early College Queens and it was a more academically rigorous school where no one even cared about chess. I had an awakening where I’m just like. Okay, so maybe chess isn’t the biggest thing in my life. Chess was cool and it taught me a lot of life skills, but in terms of what I want to do in my life, I needed to refocus and develop new skills. It was tough for me to open up to people and not talk about chess for a long time. I like finding new similarities and hobbies

ML

You mentioned that you were really into chess because you had a close connection to the people inside your chess club, do you think chess is an essential part of chess?

VY

Yeah, for sure. When you have people that you can go to when you are facing any struggle is important in any game or sport. In chess, there are a lot of different ways you can go about improving, but at a certain point, you want someone to help you. You want to ask someone if they can give you their insight from an outside perspective. Also, it’s easier to go to any tournament if you have a friend who’s keeping you accountable and going with you. You don’t end up feeling lonely. I think having a friend or a team is essential because it keeps you going and makes sure that you can resolve any struggle together.

ML

Girls in Chess has always been an interesting point of discussion. There aren’t many girls who play chess at the highest level, like yourself and your friends. Within your years at 503K, there have been some of the highest-rated girls that Chess in the Schools has ever seen. You all would eventually go to I.S. 318K, where you would become girl’s national champions. Do you think having girls of your equal level helped you become better?

VY

I think I got really lucky. The girls in the year above me didn’t know about me until we were at 318K. I think it was pretty funny because I might have looked up to them when I was in elementary school. They were only about a year older than me, but it was nice to have a role model. Seeing someone who likes you makes you think it’s possible to excel at something. In middle school, we all got to know each other. We had a few girls on the team, and we went to Girls Nationals. We showed everyone that it was possible to do well without having any guys on the team. I think it’s pretty funny, now that you mention it because I kind of forgot about it. I’ve always had these female friends in my life, who also play chess. It felt normal for me. At one of the schools that I teach at right now, I have a student who’s good at chess. Her other girl friends are not super competitive, and I can see how much she wants her friends to push her into being an even better player. I think having a group of girls playing chess is rare.

So that kind of shows that it is possible to do well. Without having any guys on the team. Since it is a, it’s a, it’s a girls-only tournament.

ML

When do you think you started to love chess?

VY

My reason for joining wasn’t because my mom wanted me to have an extra extracurricular, it was because I wanted to get better at something. I was able to focus a lot of energy on something outside of school. I have been able to join chess even more because of the people I am around. There is this puzzle-solving aspect in chess, and you start to feel good when you can solve something. There’s also this tournament aspect in chess. To get better you have to go to tournaments and meet different people. There is this networking aspect within tournaments.

ML

You competed at the World Youth Championship in Greece?

VY

Yes.

ML

What was that experience like?

VY

One of the reasons why I went is because of a girl in the year below me. Her name is Katrina [Katrina Wong, CIS alumni]. We both qualified, and her dad suggested we go together. I’m all about having fun and hanging out with friends, so I asked my mom and she was on board to join as well. I probably should have been more focused and serious about the tournament. Don’t get me wrong, I was doing a lot of puzzles and trying to focus on my games. The thing is, this was the first time I had ever been to Greece. I wanted to enjoy the weather, and food, and there was to explore. It was cool playing against people on an international level because they all brought souvenirs and the vibe was just completely different from any tournaments I had ever played in the United States. Competing at the World Youth Championships was an experience that I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

ML

How did it feel competing at an international level, did it feel more normal because you were playing people around your age?

VY

It felt very weird not playing with a team of 10 or more people. I didn’t know most of the people in the tournament, which is not supposed to be surprising because it’s an international tournament. I was used to going to tournaments where I saw a lot of familiar faces because the same people played in all the tournaments in New York City. Also, it felt different because I wasn’t playing for my school. I was playing for the United States. Competing on a U.S. team meant I had to focus on winning as many games as I could.

ML

What are you doing in college?

VY

I am taking a lot of classes, especially a lot of science classes. I’m currently in 4 clubs right now. I have a pretty busy schedule, but I enjoy it. I think because I enjoyed the people aspect of chess, I’m trying to widen my network and find different people who I can learn a lot from even in college. Outside of my classes, I’m actively looking for ways to stay involved and give back to the community. I benefited from a lot of the people around me and the resources I had.

ML

How has College Bound helped you?

VY

Chess in the schools is like that one advisor who you can always go to. I remember other than providing me chess and the opportunity to work, I was provided with a lot of academic support. I think the SAT support was really helpful. Also in a lot of the seminars, we didn’t just talk about college, we explored current event issues. There are some nice people at Chess in the Schools, such as Chano and Will. I remember telling them I was a bit sleep-deprived, and they would tell me to take a nap or make me feel like it was okay that I wasn’t at my best.

ML

What would you tell your younger self?

VY

I would tell my younger self to explore more, figure out what I want to prioritize in life and figure out what I enjoy and what I don’t enjoy. I think, even now I’m very afraid of trying new things because I’m worried that I’m going to give myself too much responsibility. I did start on the journey of pushing myself to explore as much as I can, whether it’s through chess or other extracurriculars. I try to push myself into establishing relationships that develop me as a person and I like making sure I learn those skills from other people.

ML

What advice would you give to chess players who want to be at the level that you’re at?

VY

I would probably tell them that if you want to be good at chess you have to enjoy it. You could be a hard worker and you can still probably succeed. For me, it matters that I enjoyed chess and everything that comes with it. I think you have to find enjoyment in the game and spend a decent amount of time on it. There are no shortcuts. You should find some people who are really good because they will become your motivators. I think it is easier to have people be with you rather than being alone. If you can do everything alone, then you’re probably super disciplined, but it never hurts to have a chess friend.