Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Updated (5 June) – YGP3 has 6 Players with 3 points after 4 rounds

June 4th, 2015

Differences are minimal in the top half of the YGP cycle. Just like in the YGP1 and YGP2 editions, there surely won’t be a walk-over for any player and we need to sit tight until the final round to see what will eventually happen.

Such tight competition makes this tournament one of the most worthwhile events for our youth as it is also the only event in Hong Kong for youth with regular/standard time control of 90 minutes.

The ranking after 4 rounds here below:

Cross Table Rank after Round 5

Below the pairing of round 5:

First 7 players registered for Open Dutch Youth Championship

June 2nd, 2015

The Open Dutch Youth Championship is now only 2 months away. We have 7 Caissa kids enrolled and with over 10 accompanying persons joining our Hong Kong Bauhinia should create an impact among the Dutch tulips!

Melvin, one of the top scorers in the Secondary section of the HKJCC inter-school, and doing well in our Friday Spring Open, will play in Group B, 1999 or later.

Jasmine and James will play in Group D, 2003 or later.

Miguel Angel, Dutch Champion 2 years ago in Group G, is our player in group E, born in 2005 .

Harold and Mei Jing will play in Group F, born in 2006.

Jinwen, current School World Champion U7, will aim for his next title in Group H, born in 2008 or later.

Of course coach Matthew will also be in Holland to support our team.

If still interested to join – do let us know!

Round 3 Spring Open Results and Pairing Round 4

May 20th, 2015

Last Friday Henry put up a great opening and middle game fight against Matthew but had to accept a loss when in the later part of the game he did not really blunder but also did not always played the best moves. Enough for an IM to crunch out a win…

Melvin, on a fast track of continuous improvements, drew against former champion Long and might not have gotten himself enough after a strong recovery of an early pawn loss.

Newly joined Ray played well and sensibly against Conrad but had to concede a loss after an inaccurate exchange.

Coming Friday in round 4 all players will be in town and it is up to Long to stop Matthew!

World School Chess Ends – One World Champion and one 3rd Place!

May 14th, 2015

On the site of the Hong Kong Chess Federation you can find a short entry on the end results of the World School Chess Championship 2015 in Pattaya. Playing under HKCF flag, Bao Jin Wen became World Champion U7 and Michael Deng ended 3rd pace in U9.

Michael Deng with Proud Mom

U7 World Champion Bao Ji Wen with Proud Family

This is probably the best performance ever for Hong Kong. As commented on the HKCF web site, these chess results are indeed remarkably good, however, what was at least as big a win was to see our Hong Kong children bond towards a team. Elephant riding, go-karting, water polo and by and large taking joint meals was the energizing glue between the heavy chess program at World Championship level, aka, playing 4 to 6 hours of serious chess competition per day, especially on the days of double rounds.

Scoring Table Hong Kong Players

The tournament over 9 rounds was run very smoothly in an amicable atmosphere. Everything started and ended in time and there were no incidents that affected the mood of players negatively.

After the children were in the playing hall, the nerves of (grand)fathers and coaches were tested ...

After the children were in the playing hall, the nerves of (grand)fathers, offcials and coaches were tested …

Our U9 Caissa girls Mei Jing and Anika scored 4.5 and 4 points respectively – a good score and the baseline for what is to come.

Anika Showing other Talents on Social Nite

Anika Showing some of her other talents on Social Nite

Also our Caissa boys Alan Pang Bo, Aaditya, Harold, James, Miguel Angel, Oliver and Richard were nothing short of their peers with scores ranging from 3 to 4.5 points. Also here, this is the baseline to improve from in the future.

U11 Huang Ho Pang and U15 Benjamin with 5 and 4 points respectively can also look back at a fine tournament.

Only rarely a computer game came out – here the “leak” was with Miguel Angel and Oliver…

Aaditya Mom Pep-talking

Pep-talk for Harold

Oliver’s Grandma Pep-talk

Pep-talk for Miguel Angel

Lucky Richie – no pep-talk but quickly going through some lines with dad before start of the game …

James and Harold meet the new U7 World Champion Bao Jin Wen

James and Harold congratulate the new U7 World Champion Bao Jin Wen

Having Fun Playing against the New World Champion U7

Thank you all fathers, mothers, grandmoms/dads and Caissa’s coach Matthew and Active Kids’ coach Marcos for having contributed in making this event a success by any standard.

Also good job to Alberto Muniz, who was Hong Kong’s section International Arbiter in the girls section.

In this event Hong Kong made a difference. More to come …

Pairing Round 3 Spring Competition and YGP3

May 14th, 2015

With many of our top youth playing in the World School Chess we had to postpone one round of both the YGP3 Cycle on Sunday and Spring Cycle on Friday evening as well as Saturday competition in Discovery Bay and all lessons of last weekend.

But we will be back and below the pairing of round 3 of both the Spring Open on Friday, with still various BYEs due to late traveling in from Thailand of a handful of players, and the YGP3 on Sunday which should be full house!

Pairing Round 3

Status after 6 rounds World School Chess Championship

May 11th, 2015

Today was a rest day, that is, from 3.30pm a voluntary blitz tournament would be organized as a side activity. The morning would thus require no preparation today, so what better to do than going for … elephant riding! So there we went with 22 of us.

Elephant Riding. Left: Oliver, with Huang Ho and Huang Ho’s Mom. Right: Anika and Dad with Meijing

James and Harold with their Dad

After elephant riding, dehydrated and all, some water polo in the swimming pool offered an excellent way to cool down. James, Harold, Miguel Angel and Richard were the team that took on Matthew, Oliver, Anika, Meijing, Aaditya and Alan. With two versions going around not sure who won …

Water Polo to Cool Down

After all the fun, tomorrow morning will be the start of a serious day again with preparation from 10.15am to push ourselves up the ranking. Note, by the way, the impressive score of U7 Bao Jin Wen of 5.5 out of 6!

World School 2015 in Pattaya after 3 Rounds

May 9th, 2015

As mentioned on the HKCF web site the World School Chess in Pattaya is 3 rounds into the event.

With 14 players and about at least as many supporting and accompanying persons and two top trainers, IM Matthew Tan and IM Marcos Lleneza, we are the largest HK delegation for as long as most can remember.

The hotel is of nice quality, the food comparatively weak, but the chess playing hall is excellent with enough space for the players, high ceiling and no parents allowed whatsoever … what a relief to children, trainers and officials! Per federation only 1 person at a tine can access the playing hall to have a look from the side line and so far all is going smooth.

Day 1: the HK Delegation gets briefed by Caissa and HKCF President David

HK getting seated for the opening ceremony (notice the Caissa flag?!)

Alan in Thinking Pose before Start of Round 1

Anika before Round 1

Our Caissa flagship-kids after round 3 are Anika and Richard with 2 points – below the full list:

G9 Anika: 2
O13 Richard: 2
O9 Aaditya: 1.5
O7 Alan: 1
G9 Mei Jing: 1
O9 Harold: 1
O11 James: 1
O11 Miguel Angel: 1
O13 Oliver: 1

The points truly do not reflect the playing strength as some of our players simply gave away very good to winning positions and we will try to tighten this in coming days.

Analysis after Round 1

Marcos and Matthew both in full Analysis gear with their pupils

Marcos and Matthew both into Full Analysis with Their Pupils after Round 2

Of course we also follow and support our non-Caissa players, we are here as one HK team, and some are doing very well so far:

O7 Bao Jin Wen: 2.5
O9 Michael: 2.5
O11 Huang Ho Pang: 2.5
O15 Benjamin: 2
G15 Katrina: 1 (Katrina will not play from round 4)

Despite being in the country of excellent food, the meals are not the greatest assets of this tournament and after round 3 we decided with a group of 17 Hong Kong players/supporters/trainers to venture into the city …

17 of us in Tuk Tuk

Nice and Easy Dinner at Food Court in Mall

Entertainment in Mall

Spring Open and YGP3 Round 2 Results

April 29th, 2015

Last Friday Alberto played with white against Matthew but got entangled enough to lose in what turned out to be Matthew’s pet French line. Long with white beat Koji and David with white got the initiative against Conrad’s pawn sacrificing Budapest gambit when Conrad did not punish David’s dubious early a3 pawn move.

There will be no chess this coming Friday 1 May and the pairing will be done the Wednesday before the next game.

Caissa Spring Open 2015 Cross-Table after Round 2

In the YGP 2nd round last Sunday, the clash of the titans between Miguel Angel and James Wing Ki ended in a win for James who simply got too much activity from his two pieces against Miguel’s rook.

Another noteworthy game was between Oliver and Anika – a rook (Oliver) against 2 bishop end game which lasted well over 3 hours to end in a draw. A record for our club!

In the below cross-table you can find all other results.

Also note here, there will be no round 3, as per schedule, on Sunday 3 May and pairing will be done on Wednesday before the Sunday match.

Caissa YGP 3 Spring 2015 Cross-Table after R2

Caissa Youth in Final Preparation for the World School Chess Championship: Pizza

April 27th, 2015

In the upcoming youth internet match against The Netherlands on Sunday, May 3 we will play two rounds against eight top youth players on the other side of the world – let’s get in the mood for the upcoming World School Championship!

Our eight Caissa players are: Richard, James, Miguel Angel, Harold, Mei Jing, Anika, Aaditya, and Alan (in order of age, more or less). Each player will play one game with black and one with white.

Practice for World School in the weekend - with parents supporting

Caissa Kids Practice for World School in the weekends – with parents supporting

Aaditya looks around while Anika studies the position from higher altitude. In the back Richard watches his dad Koji play against Miguel Angel

Aaditya looks around while Anika studies the position from higher altitude. In the back Richard lunches and watches his dad, Koji, play against Miguel Angel

We will primarily play for honor and glory but we are also trying to arrange a nice prize for the players of the winning team.

Through our Dutch partners, Pathena Chess and Delemare Chess Academy, internet accounts via the Royal Dutch Chess Federation will be arranged on Playchess.com.

After each round we will get together to briefly discuss the games as to also create a valuable learning experience.

Time: 15.00 – 19.00
- Pizza lunch: 15:00-16:00 (that should motivate!)
– Round 1: 16.15 – 17.00
– Discussion of games and break
– Round 2: 17.45 – 18.30
– Discussion of games and conclusion

Playing time: 20 minutes per person + 5 sec increment per move

We will be trying to stream the match live on our Caissa YouTube channel – stay tuned!

Spring YGP3 Round 1 Results and Pairing

April 23rd, 2015

In the Spring Cycle events the Youth Grand Prix 3 started last Sunday with. The addition of a few new faces of upcoming talents mixed with some of the more familiar faces will surely make this 3rd and last YGP Standard chess event a worthy conclusion.

Familiar and New Faces behind the Boards

Cross Tabel after R 1 Spring 2015 Caissa Hk

Cross Table after Round 1

After round 1 not so much can be concluded yet. On the other hand, for round 2 we already have a clash of previous YGP champions in their age groups: Miguel Angel with white against James with black. We look forward to it!

Below the rest of the pairing.