Jack Mizzi

Jack Mizzi is a Maltese chess player. He was born on the 17 May 2006 in Malta and is the U-20 Junior Champion in Malta. Jack is the youngest chess player to have won the Preliminaries in Malta at 13 years old. He was called a chess "Chess prodigy" by the online journal Malta Today in their short documentary about Mizzi. Mizzi participated in the World Youth Chess Championship in Romania 2022.
== Chess career ==
===Early Days===
Jack started learning chess in 2016 at the age of 10. His debut in FIDE-rated competitions started in the Preliminaries 2017 where he obtained his initial Elo rating system of 1478.
===2017===
In 2017, he became the Malta U14 Rapid Junior Champion winning 5 out of 5 games and obtained an ELO performance of 2068. 
Later that year, he represented Malta in his first international tournament: the European Youth Chess Championships (EYCC) .
===2018===
In 2018, he became the U14 Junior Champion for the second time. 
He participated in the Preliminaries 2018 , placed third and qualified for the first time for the Candidates 2018, where he managed to obtain 3 points.
In Summer 2018, Mizzi (ELO 1575) represented Malta in the European Youth Chess Championships in Latvia , with a win against the higher rated Davidov Lazar (ELO 1763) from Serbia.
In December 2018, 12-year-old Jack gave a 2.5-hour long Simultaneous exhibition at the Birkirkara Local councils of Malta against 13 players and won all games. The entire event was filmed . He placed second in the FIDE-rated Blitz tournament that followed the simultaneous chess exhibition.
===2019: A new Malta record===
In 2019, 13-year-old Jack broke a Malta record as the youngest player to have ever won the Preliminaries unbeaten with 5.5/7. This resulted in a qualification in the Candidates 2019 where Jack placed in the 15th place. 
In March 2019, Jack played for the first time in a team tournament in Sicily in CIS 2019 and finished the tournament unbeaten with 4/5 points.
In the 2019 Junior Championships, Jack Mizzi tied for 1st place with Cosmin Alexa. Following tie-breaks, Jack was awarded the U-18 Junior Champion title.
Jack participated in the European Youth Chess Championships 2019 in Bratislava with an important win against Heldenbergh Nils from Belgium. Jack placed 6th in the Blitz tournament that was part of the event.
===2020: The COVID-19 pandemic===
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.
Jack played in the Blitz event and obtained a performance rating of 2074.
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 due to the Covid pandemic. In 2020 the Junior championships and the European Youth Chess Championships were not held due to the pandemic. 
To mitigate the situation FIDE, European Chess Union and MCF organised a series of online tournaments.
Online FIDE Olympiads that were held for the first time ever in 2020. Jack obtained 6.5/9 and was Malta's top player. This resulted in Malta qualifying to Division 3. Jack obtained 4.5/9 but this was not enough for Malta to qualify for the next phase.
====Candidates 2020====
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.
===2021===
During the period Jan-May 2021, Jack played and managed to win both the Blitz and Rapid Grand Prix that consisted of a series of online tournaments organised by the Malta Chess Federation, as a substitute to on-the-board chess during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
In Summer 2021, some European chess Federations and organisations, started organising on-the-board tournaments.
At the end of July 2021, Jack was invited to play in Poland in the Irene Warajomskiej Memorial. Despite a result of 5/9 with only 1 loss, 2 wins and 6 draws, Jack's ELO rating suffered a reduction of 55. 
Jack also participated in the Blitz tournament where he met strong opponents including Bartosz Soćko.
Jack was invited to play for ASD Pedone Isolano, a chess club based in Sicily, in CIS2021. Jack obtained 3 wins, suffered one loss, and in the last game he managed to obtain the draw that was required for the "promozione". As a result, the team got promoted from Serie C to Serie B.
====Candidates 2021 redux====
The MCF held the Candidates 2021 in what was nicknamed a redux version after it had to be rescheduled because of the pandemic . Jack obtained the 2nd place in the tournament that earned him a place in the final stage of the Championships for the first time.
====Junior Championships 2021====
Jack participated in the 2021 Junior Championships and won the U18 Junior Champion title unbeaten.
Jack also played in the European Small Nations (ESNA) Blitz championship in Malta and managed to draw against WGM Berend Elvira
====2021 Final Championships====
Jack participated for the first time and placed 3rd in the final phase of the championships that were held in Dec 21-Jan 2022 
===2022: Junior Champion===
In March 2022, Jack at 16-years became Malta's U20 Chess Junior Champion with 6.5/7.
Later that year, Jack placed 10th in the Candidates 2022. He obtained 3 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses.
After the Candidates 2022, Jack embarked on a tour consisting of 4 back-to-back international tournaments. The path was: India - Romania - Liechtenstein - Malta.
====Chess Olympiads 2022====
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 in the 44th Chess Olympiad that were held in Chennai and obtained 3 wins and a draw
====World Youth Chess Championships 2022====
Jack played in the World Youth Chess Championship that were held in Mamaia, Romania during September 2022. He obtained 3 wins, 2 draws and 6 losses and suffered an ELO 54 loss. 
====European Small Nations 2022====
Jack won against IM Fred Berend in the European Small Nations ChampionshipTwo weeks later, in October 2022, Mizzi represented Malta in the 4th European Small Nations Championships that were held in Liechtenstein and finished in 5th place , gaining 144 ELO points. Jack obtained wins against IM Berend Fred (ELO 2300) and FM Michaelides Konstantinos (ELO 2304).
====World Amateurs Chess Championships 2022====
In October 2022 Jack, participated in the World Amateur Chess Championships that were held in Malta. Jack placed 4th in the Blitz tournament which was part of the World Amateur Chess Championships 2022. Playing in the U-2300 category of 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). He suffered 4 losses, all against higher rated players. 
At the start of the World Amateur Championships, Jack's ELO rating was 1808. Following this tournament, Mizzi's ELO increased by 251 in one period resulting in a rating of 2059.
Category:2006 births
Category:Maltese chess players