Mihael Jakrlin

Croatia

I am a civil engineering student, born in Croatia in 2002. I started learning about chess at 3-4 years old. I saw my dad playing with his old friend and I became interested in the game. By the age of 8 I couldn’t win a single game against him, but even when I lost I wanted to play again, I would say I started building my winning mentality then and I always wanted to be better than the competition.

I am the type of person who always bites against stronger opponents and I don’t do my best against weaker ones because I don’t see it as important to strengthen my mentality, but it’s also important to play well against everyone. I am one of the top U-20 juniors in the national rating in Croatia and I would like to get at least an international master title. I was lucky at the beginning of my chess career because I found a great youth chess club that made me what I am today. In addition to chess, I play rugby and follow a lot of other sports, mostly with the ball because I was a football goalkeeper in my younger days, and sports and physical health are also important in chess and living. “In a healthy body a healthy mind.”