The remarkably talented Harmony Zhu

Harmony in at the Youth World Championship in Al Ain

When we checked out the seven-year-old girl Garry had mentioned, we found that she had just turned eight, during game ten of the eleven-round tournament, on November 17. She won that game and eventually scored 9 points in 11 games, tying for first place with a girl from Mongolia, but winning the title on tie-break. Here are the final top standings:

It is worth mentioning that the group had 117 players. The full results are here, and below is the scoresheet of Harmony's tenth round win.

Harmony in the decisive final round during the World Youth Championship

My, are you tall! Here Harmony receives her gold medal from the President of the
Asian Chess Confederation Shaikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Shakhboot Al Nahyan (photo Reint Dykema)

On the stage with Shaikh Sultan and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

Here's a YouTube video interview with Harmony after the event (starts at 3:26:40)

The photos above were provided by Vadim Tsypin, seen above right chatting with Garry Kasparov. Vadim is a chess dad who volunteers as a member of the board of the Canadian Chess 'n Math Association. His interests include promotion of chess for young people of all ages, especially girls. At the 2013 WYCC in Al Ain, Vadim was privileged to serve as assistant to Head of Delegation for Team Canada.

Other talents

Like any other young girl Harmony Zhu has dreams, including one rather extravagant one, which was, however, fulfilled in the past year – not once but twice. And here, once again, we ask you to pause for a moment and guess what this extraordinary talent is. Horse riding? No. Figure skating? No. Gymnastics? Uh-uh. As we said: nomen est omen. If you have guessed you can scroll down and find the solution.

But brace yourself for a shock!

Harmony Zhu, piano virtuoso

So what was Harmony's greatest wish in life? Not your usual run-of-the-mill little girl dream, but a rather extravagant one: to one day get a chance to play in the world famous Carnegie Hall in New York. The piano, for a live audience. And this wish was fulfilled, twice in 2013, while she was still seven years old. Here's one performance:

Harmony Zhu playing at Carnegie Hall: Chopin Nocturne in C Sharp Minor Postcriptum

Harmony always schedule conflicts between chess and piano. For example, during British Columbia Youth Chess Championship she was was over half an hour late for two morning games, as she had to rush from a concerto competition at downtown on the same days. "I love playing piano," she says, "because I get to compose my own music composition on the piano."

Harmony Zhu playing at Carnegie Hall: Chopin Waltz in C sharp Minor, Op.64, No.2

It doesn't seem possible that a seven-year-old (at the time of playing) can do this:
CMC 1st Round, Bach Two Part Invention No.13 in A minor BWV 784

"It bothers me so much that I can hardly concentrate on the chess board because of my own composed music in my head!" says Harmony. "I just cannot get rid of it. Sometimes I even think about Tinker Bell, Peter Pan, Snow White and lots of other characters from the movies I have seen. I guess this is why I always play so slowly and run out of time."

Harmony Zhu - Johann Sebastian Bach French Suite No.5 BWV 816, Allemande and Gigue

Harmony, who is from Richmond Hill, is now studying at the Young Artists Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Harmony's father Todd has set up a special YouTube channel for the budding pianist, where you can watch a number of further pieces by Hayden, Bach, Mozart and Chopin. Enjoy them an be inspired. And do not believe that this is the last you hear about Harmony Zhu on our news page.