"Hasbahçe New Year Tournament" runner-up Cevdet KIZIL

It was 2001 and Hasbahçe Chess Club was organizing a competition ; "Hasbahçe New Year Tournament" to celebrate the approaching next year. I had joined this tournament and did later realize that some strong players were also taking place in that competition. Of course, in my opinion, the strongest of these players was Bora Altınordu, a titled player who had became famous after Turkchess tournaments. Besides him, another strong player participating in the tournament was Gurkan Ekin, Istek Mustafa Kemal Ataturk High School Champion and captain. Anyway, when the competition was initiated, I did start the tournament with a nightmare. Because I had lost my first game and then I had lost some more points which were totally unexpected for me. Fortunately, after playing more and more, I had started to regain my power and show my real performance, but now it was a little bit late. It was hard to believe but I had lost the champion title with 0,5 points; following Gurkan Ekin. At the end of the tournament, I was awarded the chess trophy you can see above for my 2nd rank. Although losing the 1st rank with 0,5 points was disappointing for me, the chess trophy I had earned for my 2nd rank had a very nice writing on it. As you can see below, my mentioned trophy was announcing that I was also awarded the "Star Master" title for ranking 2nd at a young age.