Next week Caissa will conclude her first season with 5 days of chess activities: Two chess clinics by coach FIDE CM Collin Madhavan on Monday/Tuesday in Chai Wan and Thursday/Friday in Discovery Bay and of course the Seasons-End Rapid Tournament.

As of today 30 players have registered: 14 players from Primary School and 16 players somewhat older …

All players will play in one group, competing for their own age category prizes, and it would be wise not to underestimate the youth of whom some are the top players in Hong Kong in their age category; we will surely see some fine action from them.

What is completely new to Hong Kong is that for all youth this tournament will be FIDE CiS rated and most players have already been given a one year FIDE CiS Premium Membership.

Hong Kong lacks a rating system for children and we hope that other tournament organizers will use the created FIDE CiS accounts to rate their tournaments as well so that once a critical mass has been reached we can organize more meaningful grouping of youth than by schoolyear so that both weaker and stronger players stay motivated as they move up their skills playing against opponents of similar strength.

In the group of players competing for the Open group prizes we see a strong mixture of young players and veterans, chess coaches and students, players from Hong Kong and abroad.

It will be fun …