Beginners
It is in the nature of Discovery Bay residency that people move in and out of town relatively frequently. We regret to see that Mikael and Kaiden will be leaving the club in June as they move out of Hong Kong, but we wish them good luck and hopefully a new chess beginning in their new places!
It is good to see that several players in the Beginners Group have matured enough to start their first tries in competition chess. Of course, in this group no shortage of spectacular chess: Saga with white played convincingly towards a win once she had captured Christopher’s queen and something similar happened with Julien who won against Aleesha once he got a queen up. James and Kaiden had a more positional game which was won by James who made use of his open lines very well. Gauri had a bye.
Results after Round 1
Intermediate
Sophie kept the tension below Bryant high as she defeated Franz who with 3.5 points is still second but only at half a point distance between two close followers. In a crucial match between Jay and Max it was Jay who claimed the win by winning on time. Jay’s 3rd straight win puts him now at 3 points on equally shared 3rd place.
Cross table after Round 7
Advanced
In the advanced group the legedary game between Lasker and Thomas in 1912 was discussed to show the power of a good development towards the center in attacking, with queen sacrifice and all, an underprotected kingside. The check-forced route of the black king from h7 all the way to the check mate on the first rank of white remains a spectacular sight.
Only one game was played, between Gerent and Miguel Angel (aka Colle System against Philidor set-up) which was won by Miguel after what in analysis later seemed to be a confusing situation in the end game in which both players in turn unexpectedly put a rook at risk.
Spectacular chess actually in all groups…
Round 5 Cross Table Advanced
