Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club
chess in hong kong
Monthly Archives: December 2014
Daniel Lam wins Caissa Winter Blitz Open and visiting GM Raymond Keene allows 2 draws in 20 games simul
It was full house again last Sunday on a day fully packed with chess activities at our Sheung Wan center. Our Blitz Open started at 11am and lasted over 9 rounds until 4.15pm after which we had visiting GM Raymond Keene hand out the prizes and play a simul against 20 players until well after 7pm.
Nine players from Shenzhen, of whom eight U10 or U8, joined our tournament.
Ritvik remaining cool and focused in a hectic and packed environment
First things first: the Open Blitz. In the Open (adult group) our 2 Caissa members Koji and Long just missed out a prize scoring a respectable 6 out of 9.
Koji last minute preparation …
Spectators watch the Cyril-Daniel game move close to time control
Third prize went to Edgardo, last year’s winner. Cyril, again, managed to perform well and deservedly collected the 2nd prize. Top performer was Daniel Lam, with 9 straight wins the undisputed Caissa Open Blitz Champion 2014. Congratulations to all.
Daniel gets his Champion prize from GM Raymond Keene
In the B group, U12, we had 4 players with 5 points. On tie-break Ronald just fell out of prize range. Third prize went to James, 2nd to Richard but it was again Oliver who claimed the highest spot in this age group. Good job!
Suen Long contemplating his next move
Oliver Yau received champion prize in B group from GM Keene
In the C group, U10, Mei Jing won 3rd prize with a solid result of 5 points but Miguel Angel and especially Pak impressed most by scoring 5.5 and 6 points respectively, ending even above all B group players. Impressive!
Pak receives champion prize from GM Keene
In the D group, U8, Jiang Xin Ming from Shenzhen scored 4 points ending 3rd. From Caissa’s side we had Ritvik collect his first silverware at a Caissa tournament (way to go!) with 4.5 points. The Champion prize in this group went to Wu Yi Xing, also from Shenzhen, with 5 points. Congratulations boys!
Discovery Bay buddies Jay and Seth follow Noah’s game with interest
Wu Yi Xing Champion in D group
Around lunch time we had posted 8 trivia questions, varying anywhere between quotes from famous chess players to animal names of openings and, like last year, It was Aravind who scored most points, followed by Miguel Angel, Richie, Jay and Koji. Prizes ranged from a signed book by Raymond Keene to chocolate and chess boards.
Jay posing with GM Keene got chocolate in return for his chess trivia knowledge
We were very honored too that GM Raymond Keene was willing to hand out the prizes of the first Youth Grand Prix to the prize winners who were present: James Kwong 3rd prize in U12-14, Oliver Yau 2nd prize in U12-14 and Miguel Angel Garceran Wang Champion in U10.
Hurray from GM Keene to Miguel Angel U10 Champion of YGP 1
This event was also a qualifying event for Youth Grand Prix points and we can see below how the pool of points was distributed over the top 5 players
and what the current ranking is.
Finally, GM Keene took on 20 (mostly) youth players who fully enjoyed the oportunity to be able to play against a Grandmaster with an impressive track record in the world of chess at player level, as a writer, organizerer and so on.
Ronald and Miguel Angel curious: Huang Zhi Yan had a draw!?!?
After over 2 hours Ray scored 19 points out of 20: 2 draws. We are very proud of James Kwong who was one of the two players with Zhi Yan to manage to get that draw
A very big thanks to Ray, for visiting us almost straight from the airport after a tiring intercontinental flight, and making this event very special and memorable. We hope to see you again!
IM Marcos Llaneza wins 4th Discovery Bay Rapid Open
Caissa 4th Discovery Bay Open Rapid
Show me the whole photo album first before I start reading!
The 4th edition of Caissa’s Discovery Bay Open Rapid last Saturday went smooth. We were glad to again have guests coming over from Shenzhen and we were also happy to see some of Hong Kong’s highest rated players, including ‘local chess celebrity’ Daniel Lam and International Master Marcos Llaneza from Spain, join us in our cozy corner of Hong Kong.
Thanks Rapid Moms for bringing in your children from far away in Hong Kong and as far as Shenzhen.
We also look back with modest pride to our very own Caissa members, especially our youth players, who definitely made a strong impact and grossed 8 out of the 11 prizes available!
As always in our Open events, players of all age categories were mixed and played against one another, young against more experienced. Youth players, however, played for prizes in their respective age categories of U8 (2007 or earlier), U10 (2005/6) and U12 (2003/4).
Young against experienced …
In the U8 category Noah (1.5 points) and Kian and Ritvik (both 2 points – note that Ritvik had missed the first 3 rounds) got used after several rounds to the nerves of tournament play and as they began to play slower they started collecting points.
Ritvik U10 playing against Samuel U12
Kian in action
Result corner – the most important place in the venue … Seth making sure he is still on top!
It was however our guest player from Shenzen, Jin Hao, also with 2 points, who won 2nd prize ahead of Kian and Ritvik on tie-break. Yet, with 3 points, the Champion of U8 was Caissa’s young talent Seth. Well done!
Seth and Jin Hao
In the U10 category we had a mix of very experienced players as well as some with very little or no tournament experience at all.
Pak’s little sister, supporter today, checkmates in 1 move … we’ll be hearing more from her!
Kevin was among the first-timers and his 1.5 points is not a bad result at all in this strong field, including adults. Yat Hei, Samuel and Pak all scored 3 points but the 4th prize went to Harold with 3.5 points. Mei Jing defended the honour of all girls in and around DB well by scoring 4 points, ending 12th overall and 3rd in the U10 group.
Happy Mei Jing
Miguel Angel, who was leading this age category until the last round, found Daniel in round 7 to be an obstacle too strong and by losing Miguel Angel ended 7th place overall and 2nd place in U10 with 4.5 points. Teddy did good business in the last round by defeating soon-to-be DB resident Matthew and with 5 points he ended 6th overall and became Champion of this age group.
U10 prize winners: Miguel Angel, Mei Jing, Harold and Teddy
The U12 age group also comprised of some very experienced as well as very new players. Samira scored 2 points and Jay with 3 points ended 4th in this age group. James Kwong with 5 points managed to end 3rd overall and as such he was entitled to get 3rd prize in the Open group. Herewith Toby, with 4 points could collect 1st prize in the U12 group and Richard, also with 4 points, collected 2nd prize.
U12 Prize Winners Toby and Richard
In the Open group then, 3rd prize went to James Kwong, 2nd prize to Daniel with 6 points, only having conceded a loss against the new DB Open Rapid Champion IM Marcos who scored 7 out of 7.
New kid in town, Matthew, started off well with 4 out of 4
Marcos vs. Daniel and Billy vs. Long in the back
Open Prize Winners Daniel, James and Marcos
Final Ranking
For youth players this event qualified for the Grand Prix with a pool of 18 points into U12 and 48 points in U10. The points were distributed as per below table with new ranking.
YGP Score and Ranking per 29 Nov 2014
