Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Check it out – Registration open for all our activities until end of 2014: Clinics, Tournaments, Grandmaster simul and training …

September 24th, 2014

We are pleased to announce you can now register online for all our events we organize until the end of 2014:

Shenzhen Tournament 18-19 October – highly recommended for youth and adults to play against new opponents once in a while …
Autumn Break Chess Clinics 20-21 and 22-23 October
GM Farrukh Amonatov visit: clinic and simul 6-8 November – bringing top class chess to Hong Kong and an unique opportunity to meet the trainer behind the Russian Junior team
Hong Kong – Macao Interport 2014 Pearl Delta Cup. Tentative 16 November – stay tuned!
DB 4th Rapid – Autumn Open 29 November – casual but competitive one day tournament with nice prizes
Winter 2014 Open Blitz Sheung Wan 7 December – end the year with blitz bang and win nice prizes in this one day event

James and Miguel Angel now lead Autumn 2014 YGP

September 22nd, 2014

Last Sunday James Wing Ki fulfilled his personal task, to stop Benjamin from winning 4 times in a row, with flair.

In another decisive game, Miguel Angel managed to win a few pawns in Sabrina’s King’s Indian set-up and storming into the black position also won other material to end the game with a win. James and Miguel Angel now top the ranking list.

The important game between Benjamin and James watched by coach Michel and Ronald

The game between Benjamin and James watched by Michel and Ronald

Teddy bravely sacrificed a queen for a strong attack, got his queen back later, and in what seemed a drawish position tried to force the win again, but with an inaccurancy and Andy held his position and finally won.

Marco had a very fast win against Samach who had played a strong tournament so far.

Rachel played the longest game of the evening, again, and had an equal position against Ronald for a long time, until Ronald managed to trade his rook for two pieces, active enough to press on with his pawns towards a winning endgame.

Rachel patiently taking her time to think through the posotion against Ronald

Rachel patiently taking her time to think through the position against Ronald

After a loss against Toby in the Friday Autumn Open, Ray this time beat Toby and it seems with extra patience Ray is growing strongly into the tournament.

Mei Jing saw her queen go off the board for a rook but she managed to get the queen back and ultimately win her game against Samuel.

As Louis and Thomas Sunday decided to withdraw, their opponents, Richard and Steven, were paired against each other but unfortunately Steven did not arrive and Richard won by default.

Results Round 4 and Ranking after 4 Rounds

Four rounds have already been played and there are no more BYEs allowed in the last 3 rounds. Therefore the pairing for round 5 which will be played on 12 October has already taken place and is as follows:

Pairing Round 5 – to be played on 12 October 2014

Wo Hang claims top position in DB competition

September 21st, 2014

The Avanced group had a day of non-competition casual chess.

Some casual games in the Advanced group

In the top 3 in the Beginners / Intermediate group Wo Hang achieved an important win against Suneh in round 6 through which they switches places: Wo Hang now leads, followed by Suneh and Ritvik.

Noah kept Jay away from a 100 percent score by beating him in round 6 but then in round 7 Noah found it impossible to stop the in-form Wo Hang.

Nathan in round 6 won against Ada, who resigned too early in the game, but in round 7 lost from Saga who after her 2 wins today seems to be recovering slowly from form loss in the lost couple of weeks.

Brothers Gobind and Arjun were unfortunately paired against each other in round 6 and after a desastrous, for Arjun, touch of the queen which had to move to only bad squares, Gobind had a comfortable win.

Beginners group at the end of Round 6

New member Nitai fared well in round 6 against Koza and won with a second difference on the clock. In round 7, though, recently promoted Kian beat Nitai – it was a good day for Kian who also won his game in round 6 against Victor.

Hop Hang lost in round 6 against Seth but recovered well in round 7 with a win against Gobind.

Kaya also scored one win today in round 7 against Arjun after her earlier loss in round 6 against Maximilien.

Beginners / Intermediate Group

Joseph stays in the lead in 2014 Autumn Open

September 20th, 2014

Joseph and Henry, both with the full 2 points after round 2, had an intense game in round 3 – but won by Joseph quickly once Henry’s position was breached.

The longest game of the evening was David against James ending in a thriller on the clock … James who came out of the opening a piece up ended in an end game with a knight against David’s 3 extra pawns. David just managed to win by checkmate with 1 second left on the clock.

Michel won a a piece relatively early in the game but Koji found creative ways to remain active with the rest of his pieces, among which his queen, which had a game-ending effect when Michel marched his king into a dangerous net of harmful checks.

Toby did not come well out of the opening and Richard knew well enough how to benefit from the opening advantage and end the game not too long into the evening.

Hannah came a pawn up against Melvin and that was enough for Hannah in the endgame to win.

Similarly, Long managed to defeat Miguel Angel convincingly in the late middle game after he had won material earlier in the game.

Next game will take place on 10 October and that leaves some time for either Koji or David to prepare some surprise for the for now unstoppable Joseph.

Results Round 3 and Standing after Round 3

HK Open Local 2014 – Typhoon Kalmaegi Impacts Round 3

September 16th, 2014

Last year around this time we organized the FIDE Trainers Seminar in Hong Kong when Super Typhoon Usagi hit town. Last Monday it was Typhoon Kalmaegi that paid us a visit – unfortunately in the late evening of the HKCF organized HK Local Open.

Typhoon Kalmaegi covering Hong Kong skies

It was announced just after 9pm that Signal 8 would be hoisted around 10.30pm, and we all know this means: the whole town would be coming to a stop by then in terms of e.g., transportation.

This year’s edition attracts a good crowd but from Caissa we only have two members playing, David and Michel – both of whom needed to get the 10pm ferry to Discovery Bay or get stuck until next morning in a “typhoon shelter” (bar) or so.

Coincidentally David and Michel, the players to have to travel probably farthest to get home were also the last to play. David, with white, after coming out of the opening well with his favorite Veresov Richter attack against highest rated FM Luen-Wah Luk, stood firm in the middle game and at the end of the middle game had a slighly better position, also on the clock. However, a draw was agreed also as to avoid the chance of getting stuck in Kalmaegi’s embrace.

Michel, with black, dominated the position until the end against Raymond Wu but under pressure to leave exchanged his bishop for a forward pawn when Raymond didn’t agree to a draw – nonetheless Michel had to forfeit the game as there was no time to continue in order to be back in time.

Brian Wong, against Joe Lau, and Alberto Muniz (against Jonathan Ho) won their games and are the only players with 3 points – meeting each other next week. Another interesting game next week will be between Luen-Wah Luk and Chor-Yuen Chong both among the highest rated players.

HK Open Local 2014 attracting a good crowd (photo from round 1)

Cross Table Ranking after Round 3 and Pairing Round 4

Youth Grand Prix – Autumn Round 3: Benjamin in the Lead

September 15th, 2014

After 3 rounds Benjamin triumphantly leads with 3 straight wins after defeating Sabrina last Sunday. He is closely followed by James and Miguel Angel who won their games against Harold and Samach respectively.

Ronald, Rachel and Teddy had straightforward wins against the youngest players Louis, Samuel and Steven. Ray played precise, with confidence and winning appetite against Thomas who actually played a good game but Ray’s energy was overwhelming. In chess, skills, knowledge, calculation and inspiration are all magnified when combined with the absolute will to win. Today it was Ray who was energized more. Tomorrow, an energized Thomas will win his game – and thus by playing chess we all gain qualities that are useful in real life!

Coming back from dubious philosophy to the competition, Richard and Mei Jing played a tense game that ended with a king and few pawns against king with few pawns in a Stonewall set-up: draw. In the longest game of the day Andy with white managed to beat Oliver by controlling an open file with his rook which he placed on the 7th rank; and according to the great Nimzowitsch this is a decisive advantage. Marco had a 0.5 points BYE for not being able to play today and Toby got a full point BYE due to odd number of players.

Rank After Round 3

Round 5 Saturday Internal Competition Discovery Bay

September 14th, 2014

Hectic times last Saturday at Discovery Bay when we played rounds 4 and 5 in the competition with all tables fully occupied.

In the Beginners/Intermediate group Suneh, Wo Hang and Ritvik consolidated their top spots with Noah following closely. Jay won both his first games in the competition and being the only player with 100% score so far he is surely moving upwards too.

Beginners/Intermediate Group

In the Advanced group various players played their first games. Brothers James K and Harold for example, who had a good day against Mei Jing who lost both her games against them.

Teddy also played his first games against against James K and Harold and managed to win from Harold but lost against James K.

Koji kept on playing strong and beat Samira and as Miguel Angel and Richard also won, against Bryant and Joshua respectively, the top 4 has broken loose a bit, but with Koji strongly in the lead.

Advanced Group

Autumn Open Round 2: Only Joseph and Henry at 100 percent

September 13th, 2014

Last Friday, compared to last week when half of the players were in Singapore, we had full house and with the lucky odd number of 13 participants it was David who got a BYE.

Michel played with black against Ray who, despite an unfortunate trade order which cost him a pawn, played an excellent game but the pawn was enough for Michel to pressure the game into a win.

Michel in Deep Thoughts

James played with white against Long You who after over a decade of chess hibernation is picking it up again – starting at our tournament. Long won a pawn on the h- file but found himself after that in a difficult position to deal adequately with James’ active pieces.

With all heavy pieces behind a long and closed pawn chain Richard and Melvin ended their game in a draw – it seemed not easy to break through without weakening the own structure.

Richard and Melvin moving towards - backgroud James against Long

Richard and Melvin moving towards draw with contours of a long pawn chain – backgroud James against Long

Henry played a solid game against young Toby whose slight inaccuracy resulted in a short route towards win for Henry.

Close to the tabiya of an Old Indian set-up, Miguel Angel with black played a5 against Koji at the wrong moment. As a consequence, white’s bishop on e3 increased in power, eyeing the weak b6 square, such that black was quickly running out of good moves and towards a loss.

Perhaps the highlight match of evening was Joseph against Hannah. French expert Hannah could this time not hold Joseph and through Joseph’s win both he and Henry lead with 2 points now. They will meet each other next week.

Joseph pushes his white pieces into Hannah's queen side - background Henry against Toby

Joseph trying to control his queenside to meet Hannah’s adventurous black queen – background Henry against Toby

Rank Round 2

Autumn YGP Round 2 and Autumn Open Round 1

September 10th, 2014

Autumn Open

Because of the tournament in Singapore in which Caissa participated with several teams, round 1 last Friday of the Autumn Open only had 3 games going with BYEs from James, Richard, Koji, Hannah and David.

The game between the two youth players Toby and Ray ended with a win for Toby. Melvin, another youth, lost with white against Henry and Joseph, number 2 in the winter competition earlier this year beat Michel who, perhaps still a little bit jet lagged, blundered a rook.

An interesting game in the next round will definitely be between Joseph and Hannah who in the last winter competition had an intense and explosive game.

Rank after R1 Caissa Atumn Open 2014

Pairing R2 Caissa Atumn Open 2014

Autumn YGP1

Also in this group last Sunday we had 5 BYEs from Richard, James, Miguel Angel, Harold and Mei Jing who were playing for Caissa in Singapore.

Nonetheless we had some interesting results.

On board 1 Benjamin scored a win against Andy who in the previous round had beaten Richard, one of Caissa’s best youth. And on board 2 Sabrina continued her winning streak against Steven who had managed to beat Marco in the previous round.

Samach, who had a BYE last week drew against Oliver on board 3 and on board 4 Ronald was back winning against Teddy after his last week loss against Benjamin.

On board 5 Marco made no mistake this time and scored a point against Toby while on board 6 the advantage in the game moved back and forth between Thomas and Samuel, finally ending with a win for Samuel.

On board 7 Ray played a solid Philidor against Rachel but a small miscalculation resulted in material loss and a point for Rachel.

Louis had a BYE.

the new pairing will be announced every Thursday with Wednesday the cut-off to request a BYE (only 2 BYEs allowed in first 4 rounds).

Rank after R2 Caissa Atumn YGP1 2014

Caissa Youth Teams Strong in Singapore Seragoon Team Tournament

September 9th, 2014

Over the weekend 10 chess players from Caissa went to Singapore on a mission to bring back some souvenirs/silverware from the 2014 Serangoon Inter Team Championships.

Our 10 Players – James and Miguel holding their 1st Place Cup

Saturday 6 September

With 3 teams of 2 players participating in the Open category and 2 teams of 2 players in the U10 (born 2004 or later) category we surely brightened up the venue with our white t-shirts – and some decent chess.

Caissa players analysis and warming up between rounds

Under 10 Team A, James and Miguel Angel, were ahead of the pack the whole day and having conceded only 1.5 points, they ended 1st place with 10.5 points, 2 points loose from number 2 after 7 rounds. Team B, Harold and Mei Jing, showed some great chess too and won 3rd prize: 2 of our teams in the top 3 – great!

Harold and Mei Jing win 3rd Prize Medals

James and MIguel Angel Win 1st Prize U10

Caissa Open Team A, Koji started very strong with 3.5 points out if 4. With another win in the last round and Richard’s 3 points the 7.5 points was enough to secure 5th place out of 16 teams – and to get the prize of best family team!

Team B, started off well for Hannah and James scoring a combined 3.5 points out of 4 games but from round 3 they found tough resistance from playing the strongest teams and with a total of 6.5 points Team B ended 9th.

Hannah and James – thumbs up!

In Team C, Jing, playing her first tournament, won a crucial game against Caissa Team B and as such maintained Team C’s unbeaten status status when David had to accept his only loss of the day against Hannah. Team C ended 7th.

Sunday 7 September

Because Hannah and Jing wouldn’t play in the 4 player team event we had only one team in the Open category and one in the U10.

Our U10 kids played some great chess but the 2-2 against local team Attax turned out, after the final round, to be fatal staying 0.5 board points short of 1st Prize – of course, 2nd place is a good result too!

Caissa U10 team members gather with interest around Mei Jing’s board after winning her game.

U10 Team ends 2nd in 4 Player tournament

Our Caissa team in the Open category, despite a 3.5-0.5 win in the first round, had a strange day, missing out check mate in 1 and then losing on time, a mobile phone that went off and losing a point … and just several weak games here and there across all boards resulted in a performance significantly lower than the potential of the team.

Team A in action in round 1 – the only round resulting in a win …

Those things happen sometimes – and as Allen, James and Harold’s dad, said: just enjoy the process. That should include food too…

Lunch Time

See here all results.

And here the photo album.