Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Monthly Archives: August 2013

Good Warming up before the competition starts in September

August 26th, 2013

Discovery Bay Intermediate

Compared to last week this Thursday evening we had more players, gradually returned from holidays, coming back and join. It was a good time to give James his trophy he earned as number 2 in the Beginners group last season.

 

James, now in the Intermediate Group, back from vacation, receiving his 2nd Prize from last season's Beginners Group

James, now in the Intermediate Group, back from vacation, receiving his 2nd Prize from last season’s Beginners Group

 

The step 2 assignment we started with seemed to work like a good reminder of checkmates, stalemates, double attacks and the practice games that followed between Jay, Franz, Ian, Sophie, James, Saga, Suneh and a handful of guest players and first time visitors showed this group is ready to start competition play in September!

 

Discovery Bay Beginner

Very glad to see Kaya, Kian, Gauri, Christopher, Roshan, Wo Hang, Alex turning up again on Saturday at 1.30pm and a special welcome to our new members Jaewon, Maximilien, Kevin,  and Joshua. These boys on their first appearance were impressive. When the competition starts in September we will definitely see some good play in this group.

 

Discovery Bay Advanced

We had 8 players in the advanced group and divided into a group A and group B we played a double 10mins blitz mini-tournament.

In group B (Wilson, Bryant, Chor Wei and Max) Bryant had 3 points out of 3 games in the first part and seemed to be cruising towards a win. The second part, against the same players with reversed colors, Wilson managed to beat Bryant and both players ended with 5 out of 6 points and in a 5 mins blitz Wilson emerged as victor when Bryant’s time was up despite a better position on the board. It must be noted that Chor Wei played some very good games and gave a way some winning positions mostly because of the clock – but Chor Wei is on the right track!

 

Bryant against Wilson - what was the influence of Wilson's outfit?

Bryant against Wilson – what was the influence of Wilson’s outfit on the outcome…?

 

In Group A (Koji, Miguel Angel, Gerent and Richard) it was Miguel Angel who had defeated everyone after part 1, followed by Koji with 1.5 points. In part 2, again with reversed colors, it was Richard who crawled back convincingly. Both with 4 points,  Richard and Miguel Angel had to play a 5mins blitz in which Miguel Angel got a piece behind early on in the game which was won by Richard through good technique. Koji ended with 3.5 points 3rd and Gerent, truly with bad luck in several games, played much better chess than his 0.5 points would suggest.

 

Gerent looks at the decisive game between Richard with white against Miguel Angel

Gerent looks at the decisive game between Richard with white against Miguel Angel

 

Kennedy Town

At the second gathering in Kennedy Town we had 5 new players visiting, all of different abilities and it was a fun afternoon playing some chess, doing puzzles and analyzing games.

 

Matthew, Hannah opposite Ritvik doing puzzles in the foreground while Andrew and Miguel Angel play blitz in the background

Matthew and Hannah opposite Ritvik doing puzzles in the foreground while Andrew and Miguel Angel play blitz in the background

 

Caissa in preparations to send team(s) to Singapore on 14-15 September

August 24th, 2013

Here at Caissa Chess Club Hong Kong we have since long appreciated tournaments organized in Singapore and the Inter-Team Serangoon one taking place for teams (4 persons teams and 2 persons teams) on 14 and 15 September seems interesting enough to see if we can get some Caissa teams participating!

The tournament has 6 categories: Open, Girls U16, Boys U16 (either FIDE rated or not FIDE rated). For our Intermediate group players it would be interesting to play in one of the unrated categories and for our Advanced members a try as team in one of the FIDE rated categories is worthwhile pursuing.

Caissa will partly sponsor participation for its members and the whole weekend, including flight, hotel, meals and registration etc., would cost 2,000HK$. Let us know if you want to participate at [email protected] latest Friday 30 August.

 

Singapore

Singapore

 

This deal is only for Caissa members, so if you are not a member yet … good time to join and team up as one of the Dragons against the Lions!

Season 2013/14 started! Week 1 Update

August 20th, 2013

The week of 12 August was the start of  the club’s season 2013-14. We will use the month of August to slowly settle in. The competition will start from September.

Discovery Bay Intermediate – Thursday 15 August

In the Intermediate group we had a slow start with several players still on holiday or having some school commitments. A short mini-tournament was played and some generic instruction was given. From next week we will work through Step 2 Workbook. Thursday 22 August we will warm up with the Mix Test A on page 3 of Step 2.

Discovery Bay Beginners – Saturday 17 August

We were glad to welcome two new members, Alex and Wo Hang. Also here several players were still on holiday or had other engagements and we mostly spent time going through the rules and basic chess principles and some casual play. Next week we will go through basic check mates with Rook.

Discovery Bay Advanced – Saturday 17 August

Except for the boys coming from outside Discovery Bay almost all players were there and we welcome in this group Richard and Koji as new members. With 8 people around an interesting short 1o mins blitz casual tournament was held in which Richard claimed 5 points, followed by Koji, Miguel Angel, Max and Bryant all on second place with 3 points each. Despite having less than 3 points Mei Jing, Wilson and Chor Wei showed some very decent chess and this is just a warming up! Next week we will do Step 3 Mix Test B on page 3.

 

New members Koji (with white against Bryant) and Richard (background)

New members Koji (with white against Bryant) and Richard (background)

 

Kennedy Town – Sunday 18 August

It was the first time Caissa held a meeting at the KT Community Center – for almost all people it was a bit of a challenge to find the location. However, good to see a handful new faces or players familiar from previous tournaments joining as a trial and we are very glad to welcome Ritvik as our first official new member!

In Kennedy Town we will first settle in through casual play and some tailored coaching before we can divide the group formally in different levels.

Miguel Angel 2013 Dutch Open (ONJK.NL) Champion U8

August 11th, 2013

From 5-10 August 2013 over 200 youth players from 7 until 18 years old played in the 39th edition of the Dutch Youth Open. In the category U10, 79 players in four sub-age groups, from U7 to U10, played in one group battling over 13 rounds for the title of Open Dutch Champion (daily reports U10 category – in Dutch).

Caissa’s Miguel Angel Garceran Wang, after a slow start, ended shared 5th in U10 (number 9 on tie-break). In the U8 his 9 points were enough to crown him Open Dutch Champion in this age category (final ranking U10) 2 points ahead of number 2 in U8! Impressive by any standard. Well done Miguel Angel!

 

Miguel Angel with Champion Trophy U8 together with best girl U8 and the numbers 2 to 4.

Miguel Angel with Champion Trophy U8 together with best girl U8 and the numbers 2 to 4.

 

ONJK 2013 all Prize Winners

ONJK 2013 all Prize Winners

 

Caissa’s Mei Jing started to focus better in the second half of the tournaments and ended with 6 points 55th in the U10 and 3rd in U7, but unfortunately U7 did not have its own sub-group prizes. Still, good recovery Mei Jing!

 

Mei Jing and Miguel Angel with their proud mom

Mei Jing and Miguel Angel with their proud mom

 

Many thanks to ONJK organization for their child friendly, relaxed but very professional approach. Children will want to come back. As Caissa club we are motivated to try to reach this benchmark set by ONJK in any future tournament we would organize.

Dutch Youth Open – Miguel Angel Leads Category U8 after 8 rounds

August 9th, 2013

In small town Borne in the Netherlands a big chess event is taking place: the Open Dutch Youth Championship, a prestigious tournament held since 1975.

 

Miguel angel and Mei Jing at the entrance to the ONJK Jeugd Schaak Kampioenschap (youth chess championship)

Miguel Angel and Mei Jing at the entrance to the ONJK Jeugd Schaak Kampioenschap (youth chess championship)

 

From Caissa we have Miguel Angel and his sister Mei Jing participating. The players in age groups U7, U8, U9 and U10 (H, G, F, E groups respectively) play in one large group but compete for the title and prizes in their own age categories. The tournament is played over 13 rounds and is just because of that one of the most demanding events in youth chess.

After 8 rounds, Miguel Angel with 6 points is ranked 9th in the whole group (U7-U10) and is first, one point loose from number two, in his U8 age category. Mei Jing ranks 6th in her U7 age group with 3 points out of 8.

 

Round 8: Thijmen Bourgonjen - Miguel Angel Garceran Wang (0-1)

Round 8: Thijmen Bourgonjen – Miguel Angel Garceran Wang (0-1)

 

It is striking again how child friendly this tournament is. We have seen several birthdays over the last couple of days and it is really the right thing to do to have the whole players group singing a happy birthday to the birthday boy/girl seated on a balloons decorated seat before the game.

Well done ONJK organizers!