After a tiring 11 rounds of chess at the highest level, the Youth World Chess Championship in Maribor, Slovenia, has ended. Hong Kong’s delegate in the Under 8 age category, James Kwong Wing Ki, started the tournament very strong, as reported earlier, with 3 points out of 4 games.

In round 5 and 6, which were played on one day, James lost both games, albeit from opponents with FIDE ratings as high as 1632 and 1565 from Romania and England respectively.

Mostly, when you have a FIDE rating, it means you have played a lot of games and in Hong Kong it is unfortunately for youth (and adults alike for that matter) virtually impossible to gain a rating in the absence of enough tournaments. In an event like a World Championship, a decisive factor is exactly experience, i.e., having played enough games.

James recovered well by winning in round 7 against another FIDE rated player (1520) from the USA but it was around then that James started to have to struggle with illness and fever and consequently rounds 8 and 9 were lost.

In round 10 and 11, somewhat fever free, James scored two draws, including a draw against a 1579 FIDE rated player from Cyprus – ending the chess adventure with 5 points out of 11 games.

Here at Caissa and in Hong Kong we are proud of James! With games well over 2 hours and sometimes 3 hours, James broke his own, and probably also the reader’s record, of having played over 24 hours of demanding chess in some 10 days.

See you soon back in Hong Kong!