After Alexander Ipatov’s visit in June and Collin Madhavan’s full-house clinics in July, Caissa Chess Club Hong Kong wrapped up her first year anniversary chess festivities with a concluding Summer Rapid tournament yesterday.
The event attracted international players as well as local Hong Kong players, young and old, experienced and starters. For all 24 youth players from Hong Kong the event was FIDE CiS rated (a first-timer in Hong Kong!) and, also with FIDE Arbiter Collin Madhavan strengthening the organization, the tournament went as smooth as we could hope for with such a unique diverse group.
FA Collin Madhavan quickly going through the FIDE Rules of Rapid
Delegation from Shenzhen with 5 youth players
Left to right: Eugene, Umberto and Stuart from Shenzhen with their chess buddies Billy and Cyril.
In the Open Group Hong Kong’s Andrew (8 points) stayed closest to the winner Eugene (UKR) (8.5 points) who had come in from Shenzhen with his two friends Stuart and Umberto.
The third place was taken by Caissa’s own Hannah (6.5 points) who could definitely claim the most exciting win of the tournament with a checkmate with only 1 second on the clock. Well done Hannah!
1 second on the clock – Hannah wins with white …
Prize Winners Open Group standing in between Organizers David and Bee Shan: Hannah, Eugene, and Andrew
In the P4-P6 youth group we saw some powerful play from Shenzhen youth. Both Jiatong and Xingzhe scored an impressive 6 points which resulted in their respective 1st and 2nd places. Third place was claimed by Hong Kong’s James Kwong with 5.5 points.
Players in Action
Prize Winners P4-P6 category: (left to right) James, Jiatong and Xingzhe together with Mr. Liu and Ms. Li who accompanied the Shenzhen youth.
In the P1-P3 category our 3 local Hong Kong boys claimed all prizes with Caissa’s Gerent (5 points) and Caissa’s Miguel Angel (4.5 points) getting 1st and 3rd prize respectively and Harold (5 points) receiving second prize.
David and Collin behind (left to right) Champion Gerent, Harold and Miguel Angel.
The tournament, as official end-of-season celebration, was also the stage to put Caissa’s top performing members in the well deserved spotlight.
In the Intermediate Group the 1st Prize was won by Bryant and the 2nd Prize by Max. Both are promoted to the Advanced Group. In the Beginners Group Saga won 1st Prize. James, who won 2nd Prize was abroad and will receive his trophy at opening of the 13-14 season.
Bryant (left) and Max (right) receive 1st and 2nd Prize respectively
Saga receives her Champion of Beginners Group Prize
Finally, the 5 prizes (a digital DGT chess clock, a chess board with pieces and several chess books) of the trivia questions showed Aravind was the most knowledgeable being the only participant to get a 100% score.
Eugene, champion of the tournament, forfeited his prize in favor of giving a youth player the chance to get a prize. Eugene, congratulations: you were the undisputed Champion today.
All results and ranking can be found here: cross table caissa summer rapid 13 july 2013.
Another successful tournament!!
Very well organized and managed tournament.
Congratulations to the organizers!
Looking forward to the next open tournament in 2014.