Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Caissa Players active in HKCF Spring Competition

April 30th, 2015

Six rounds have been played in the HKCF organized Spring competition and closing in towards the 9th round we have a look at what is going on.

First, applause for U12 Rachel who leads the pack with 5 points. The highest ranked Caissa player at the moment is David, on 2nd place with 5 points as well, and he will meet Joe, also with 5 points, next week. Should be an interesting game.

Youngest Caissa kid U7 Alan (Pang Bo) is doing very well with 3 points already. Good luck against Mason next Monday!

Aaditya was too late to play in the competition but visits each Monday: here practicing with his Caissa buddy Alan

Aaditya was too late with registration to play in the competition but he visits each Monday … here practicing with his Caissa buddy Alan

Caissa boys U10 Miguel Angel and U12 Oliver, both with 2.5 points, unfortunately will play against each other next Monday but that should actually be a good match, also in preparation for the World School Chess the week thereafter.

Caissa girl U9 Anika, with 1.5 points, is playing better chess than the results show at the moment and the break through to a series of wins is about to happen – even better so if that would start in Pattaya at the World School!

U10 Andy, who also plays in the YGP3, is having an excellent performance with 4 points. U12 Ronald, who skipped YGP3 but won a prize in previous YGP2, is also doing well with 3 points.

Henry and Conrad both play on Fridays in the Caissa Spring tournament. Whereas Conrad is gradually collecting a few points, Henry still needs to start his turbo boosters to get out of the bottom zone – where he doesn’t belong. Come on Henry!

Teddy Wins Winter YGP2

March 12th, 2015

By defeating Marco, Teddy became the winner of U10 and the Champion of the YGP2 with 5.5. points. Teddy, our Caissa pupil, has developed strongly in the last couple of months. Well done!

Front: Harsh (white) vs. Oliver. Back: Marco (white) vs. Teddy

James, who won against Richard, became winner of U12 and also got 5.5 points but ended 2nd overall on the 4th tie-break, that is, Teddy had more wins with black.

Andy defeated Miguel Angel by a good occupation of Miguel’s back rank with his white rook. Herewith Andy ended 2nd in U10 and Miguel Angel 3rd.

Although Oliver won his game against Harsh, it was Ronald by defeating Mei Jing who with 4.5 points could claim 2nd prize in U12.

Final Ranking Cross Table Winter 2015 YGP2

Ronald had left earlier and did not get his prize handed out – but the other prize winners got their trophy and cash prizes handed out by coach Michel.

Miguel Angel 3rd place U10 YGP 2

Andy Au 2nd Prize U10

Teddy Yang, Winner U10 and Tournament Winner

James Kwong Champion U12

Finally the ranking of the YGP:

Ranking YGP per 8 March 2015

Great Results for Caissa Youth in QBS Junior Star Tournament

November 10th, 2014

The chesskids team tasked with organizing the 3rd Quarry Bay School Junior Chess Star Competition did a great job last Sunday.

In 2012 and in 2013 Caissa members had brought home Champion and other prizes and that set the bar high for this year’s group. But they were up to their task!

In this all ESF Schools event the Primary 1-4 years play in one group and the Primary 5-6 play in another group

Among Caissa members we had 14 participants:

P1-P4: Mei Jing (last year’s 2nd place), James G, Justin, Noah and Seth (Discovery College), Harold (Kowloon Junior) and Louis (Quarry Bay)
P5-P6: Miguel Angel (last year’s 1st in P1-P4) and Ashlin (Discovery College), Toby, Thomas and Howard (Quarry Bay) James K (last year 2nd, Kowloon Junior) and Jay (Bradbury).

P1-P4

Justin and Noah scored 3 points out of 6 games and ended 14th and 12th respectively. This was Noah’s first tournament and scoring 50% is an impressive result.

Noah ready behind his black pieces and Harold looks relaxed against Mei Jing in the back...

Noah ready behind his black pieces and Harold looks relaxed against Mei Jing on the next board …

Seth, Louis and James G scored 3.5 points ending on 9th, 10th and 11th place – unfortunately for James G he just ended outside of the prize range. Congrats to Louis and Seth with their medals. A fine result for both boys and very impressive of Seth who played his first tournament ever.

With 5 points Harold ended 2nd having lost only to Mei Jing who became Champion with 6 out of 6. Well done!

Prize Winners P1-4 Group

Mei Jing Champion P1-4: Girl Power!

P5-P6

Jay had a tough day and did not get his engines started. Thomas started very well with 2 out of 3 but perhaps in the end fell the energy drain away and he found it difficult to get back into his winning streak of the morning.

Thomas with black against Rachel

Jay always in good mood!

Howard recovered well from his first round loss and ended 11th, just 1 place out of reach of prizes. Miguel Angel this year ended 5th and won a medal. Toby ended 3rd getting a trophy and James K with a score of 6 out of 6 claimed the title.

Good job all!

Prize Winners P5-6

Unfortunately we do not have the end ranking with points of this group, but below is the ranking:

End Ranking P5-P6

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

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

Fu Hao Chess Club from Mainland Nan Chang to visit Caissa in Discovery Bay for Youth Match on 5 July

June 11th, 2014

Nanchang_Prefecture_within_Jiangxi_(China)

Nan Chang Prefecture is part of China’s southern Jiangxi province

After having played somewhat regularly against youth teams from Macao and Guangzhou, we will now receive 23 youth players from Nan Chang, Mainland China.

All players are under 12 and most players are around the age of 8 years old – but this time we do not divide the players in teams of age groups.

Instead, we will be dividing the players in teams based on their level estimated according to the Step Method as used at our club.

To underline the friendly dimension of the match players are asked to bring their favorite book and exchange that with their opponent as a personal souvenir.

This is a club against club event and the Hong Kong players are selected from Caissa members/students but we do invite some other guest players to join our team. If you are not our member/student but are interested, let us know before 21 June at: [email protected]

Dutch Open Youth: ONJK 2014

May 5th, 2014

Last year’s participation of Caissa’s Miguel Angel and Mei Jing in the Dutch Open Youth (ONJK) was memorable. First, Miguel Angel became Open Dutch Champion U8 with 9 out of 11 and brought this prestigious title home to Hong Kong!

But second, and from various angles more importantly, we were glad to have participated in a tournament organised in a proper child friendly way. It is clear that Holland, a country small by population and area, but with over 30 Grand Masters and number 6 in the last chess Olympiad (just behind three former Soviet powerhouses, China and the USA) knows how to make and keep children fond of playing chess.

The 2014 (and 40th!) edition will be held from 4-9 August. No plans for the summer yet? From Caissa we will be going with a few players. Hong Kong youth interested to go to a small typical Dutch town and play in a magnificent chess event, drop us a note ([email protected]) for more information about how we can coordinate this further – or visit the ONJK site directly for further information.

Guangzhou East Lake Chess Academy Wins the Caissa CNY Cup

February 17th, 2014

Guangzhou wins the Caissa CNY Cup 2014

In a busy and energetic match between 16 youth players from Hong Kong and Guangzhou our guests from Guangzhou scored 34 points and defeated the home team with 30 points.

Under 8

Our team in this age group consisted of our top 5 players in the U7 championship last year, including our national champion Aaditya who made his mark by scoring 4 wins out of 4 to receive the top scorer prize in the U8 group.

Under 8 Players – Aaditya’s white queen looks very active …

Staring Stand-off …

Mei Jing also played a strong tournament winning 3 times and together with Harold’s 2 points and Steven’s win the Hong Kong team won the U8 age category prize with a score of 10 to 6.

Well done all!

Under 10

In this age category both James and Rachel had won all their 4 games and in their decisive 5 minutes blitz it was James who won to collect the top scorer prize.

U10 Group – All eyes on Ronald’s board …

Ronald and Miguel Angel’s score of 3 and 1.5 points respectively resulted in our very strong line-up to gross 12.5 points out of 16 and to win this age group prize.

Under 12

Despite some late minute changes, and thank you Mike for stepping in at only half a day’s notice, our line up was complete with 4 good players with solid experience. However, the Guangzhou team had also brought in 4 of their best and today our boys just could not find the right rhythm.

U12 Group in action

The age group prize went to the Gangzhou team and the individual top scorer prize went to Zheng Jia Tong after he won a decisive blitz match against his team mate Zhu Qin Zhou who had also scored 4 wins.

Under 14-16

The players in this age group remained very close the entire match and most of the wins were decided in the last minutes of the game, hence, the time control factor was significant.

U14-16 Group serious and focussed

Benjamin in Thought

Yee Chit with 3 points was our team’s top scorer. Raphael, probably the youngest in this age group, scored a solid 2 points and Benjamin won his last game solidly having avoided the time control pressure that in the previous games were a major factor in the outcome. Melvin, this time, couldn’t find a winning chance.

The age group prize went to Guangzhou as did the individual top scorer prize that went to Xie Tan who scored the full 4 points.

Congratulations to our friends from East Lake Guangzhou and we look forward to the return match.

Guangzhou Happy Winners

Hong Kong team U14-16 (left to right): Raphael, Melvin, Benjamin and Yee Chit

Under 14-16 Age Group Winners Guangzhou Team

U12 Team (left to right): Arjun, Oliver and Ernest (missing Mike)

U12 Age Group Winners Guangzhou Team

Under 10 Age group Winners Hong Kong team (left to right): Miguel Angel, James, Rachel and Ronald

Under 10 Guangzhou Team

Under 8 Guangzhou Team

Traditional CNY Hong Kong – Guangzhou Match on 15 February

January 24th, 2014

On Saturday 15 February 2014 the Guangzhou East Lake Chess Academy (廣州市少年宮廣東東湖棋院) will meet us in Hong Kong for the traditional youth Chinese New Year match (report of last year).

Supported by the Hong Kong Chess Federation the event will be organized and hosted by Caissa at our Sheung Wan chess club.

With a team of 4 players in each age category U8, U10, U12 and U14-16 we will play 4 rounds. Players represent their cities and will not be paired against their own team members.

Starting from 2pm, in all age groups the teams will play a Round Robin: 4 games in rapid format according to FIDE rules with time control of 25 minutes per person for the whole game.

We play for the Champion Cup which goes to the team with most points and in each age category there is also a prize for the winning team and the top scorer. Everybody will also get a medal as a souvenir of the effort put in.

Snacks and drinks will be provided and we welcome our Guangzhou friends warmly. Our stellar line-up is as follows:

The list of achievements is by no means full and complete but gives a good indication about our stars!

The list of achievements is by no means full and complete but gives a good indication about our young stars!