Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

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

Pathena Netherlands vs. Caissa Hong Kong Internet Match Decided in “extra time”

May 4th, 2015

VIEW THE FULL ALBUM HERE

Our Caissa Hong Kong Kids (left to right): James, Aaditya, Alan, Anika, Mei Jing, Richard, Miguel Angel and Harold

Sunday 3 May, in preparation of the World School Championship in Pattaya, Thailand, starting later this week, we had organized a practice internet match against the top youth of the Netherlands in the U9-U11 age group.

As mentioned earlier, through our Dutch Partners we were provided with Playchess.com accounts and as a first ever for Hong Kong chess our 8 kids played against a team of their age peers over 9,000KM away.

The Dutch team comprised of following players:

1. Tommy Tran
2. Liqin Lu
3. Javeria Komal Zubair
4. Circe Janse
5. Saad Komal Zubair
6. Kimmily Tran
7. Jesse van Dongen
8. Yisha Chen

Pathena Dutch Team

Alan and Anika having fun warming up before the match

Richard and Harold right before the Match: Jokes on the Chat …

The pairing was based on two rounds: in round one board 1 of HK played against board 1 of Holland, board 2 against board 2 and so on. In round two, board 1 of HK played against board 2 of Holland, and board 2 of HK against board 1 of Holland, board 3 against board 4 etc.

The scores of our team members were (R1, R2):

1. James (0,1)
2. Miguel Angel (1, 1/2)
3. Richard (1, 1/2)
4. Aaditya (0, 0)
5. Alan (1, 1)
6. Harold (0, 0)
7. Mei Jing (0, 1)
8. Anika (1, 0)

Both round 1 and 2 thus ended in 4-4!

Analysis by parents and grandparents …

Mei Jing in Deep Thought

It was suggested by the Dutch team to play a decisive blitz and we do not walk away from a challenge, of course not …

The Decisive Blitz Round: our Top 4 Boards

However, whereas in regular time we might have gotten somewhat too little from the 4-4 results, especially in round 2, our Dutch opponents were clearly the better blitzers. The maximum we could get out of this decisive round was 2.5 points: James and Anika won their games and Miguel Angel drew. Nonetheless, a big applause to all our players who gave it their all during this long and memorable day.

Congratulations to the Pathena Holland team. Well done! We are looking forward to a rematch though!

Special thanks to our Dutch partners Pathena Chess and Delemare Chess Academy for having coordinated the Playchess.com internet logistics and for having provided through the Royal Dutch Chess Federation Playchess.com accounts for our kids who can still use these for a year for free – and we will practice online blitz! Also thanks to Matthew for his coordination here on the ground with the Dutch.

Final thanks to all our Caissa kid parents for helping to bring in laptops and staying positively involved until the end.

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.

Caissa Starts Preparing HK Youth who Participate in the FIDE World School Championship

April 20th, 2015

World School Championship 2015 - Pattaya Thailand

The official site of the FIDE World School Chess Championship 2015 is up and running and the start of this mega chess event is only some two weeks away.

In an earlier post we listed the players who are going to represent Hong Kong in this event and we are glad to see we have another Caissa student join, Aaditya Kadam, former U7 Hong Kong National Champion.

What will we be / are we doing in preparation?

All our Caissa kids have already started with extensive training with our coach IM Matthew Tan and rest assure that our friends who do not train with Caissa have also been sitting around the board already, training with their coach IM Marcos Llaneza.

Both coaches Matthew and Marcos will join the players in Pattaya to support them also on the spot.

IM Matthew Tan training the Caissa Girls Anika and Mei Jing

As for Caissa, our training is done in groups of 2, max 3, players. Richard with Miguel Angel, Anika with Mei Jing, Aaditya with Alan, Miguel Angel also with Aaditya and so on. Each session is 90 minutes and covers all aspects of chess. With 1.5-4.5 hours training per week, complemented with 1-2 weekly games of Standard chess, the players have already invested a lot of their precious time into the preparation in the past weeks. Applause!

On Saturday May 2 (still tentative) we intend to hold a parent information evening, not only for Caissa student parents but all HK players parents are welcome, to prepare both players and accompanying persons on what to expect, daily routines, when to analyze games, social activities, joint meal taking etc.

On Sunday May 3 we will have a practice inter-land chess match via internet playchess.com against top youth from Holland (playing at European Championship at that time). From 4pm-8pm eight of our players divided in 2 teams of 4 players will play a round robin of 4 rounds against their Dutch opponents and after each round the individual games will be analyzed in the group with Matthew.

Our 8 players from Caissa students/members are:

Richard
James
Miguel Angel
Aaditya
Mei Jing
Anika
Harold
Alan

We will stream the event on Youtube for anyone to watch!

Finally, within 1-2 weeks before departure (exact time still to be scheduled) we will have a 2x 2 hours training and preparation with all Caissa students together, for bonding and team spirit. Individual tailored players report will be created by Matthew to enhance strengths and avoid weaknesses at the event.

We are getting ready …

Ritvik, Ben and Samuel Successful in AK Novice Tournament

April 13th, 2015

We congratulate our students who played in last Sunday’s Active Kids Novice tournament.

Wendy in the 11+ age category scored 3 points and ended 6th; however, places 2-4 were not that far with 4 points and Wendy would have gotten 2nd prize if she would have won her last game. Next time Wendy!

In the 9-10 age category Samuel played a very good tournament. He stayed calm, even under high pressure of the last decisive game, which he had to win to receive a prize. And he did. Towards an end game with both sides promoting pawns Samuel kept his cool which resulted in 3rd prize – his first silverware. Well done Samuel!

AK Novice Tournament 9-10 years End Ranking

AK Novice Tournament 9-10 Age Category

Samuel poses with IM Marcos Llaneza

In the age category 7-8 years Andrew ended 6th place, like his sister Wendy in 11+, and with 3.5 points he was very, very close to a prize too.

However, the spotlight of this age category went this time fully to Caissa’s young and upcoming talents. Ben, who had the previous day already won a prize in Caissa’s Open spring blitz, was hungry enough to again collect a prize and ended 2nd with 4.5 points.

Ritvik, always in for a few jokes, is quickly growing into a solid, calm and serious player when behind the board, and that reflected in the excellent result of 5 points and the Champion Prize to remember this great achievement for many years to come.

Well done to our boys who won the prizes but also to our students who didn’t – yet! Keep on training and playing and your time will surely come.

AK Novice Tournament 7-8 Age Category

Ritvik and Samuel – deservedly proud and happy!

Caissa and Discovery College continue to collect Prizes

April 2nd, 2015

March was a good month for youth chess in Hong Kong. First of all we played out the Caissa Winter YGP with our Teddy emerging as champion.

A week later we had a dozen of our players participate in the Aktive Kids event bringing home personal and school trophies.

The week thereafter, on March 22, our kids again booked success, for school and personal, in the HKCF official inter-school event.

On 28-29 March it was HK Chess Juniors’ turn to hold an inter-school event and it went smooth. Compared to the official HKCF tournament a week earlier the venue was very crowded and too many parents within ‘intervening’ distance but the advantage was that the location offered outdoor areas where children in between their rounds could play.

Coach Matthew making sure the team is ready – and they were!

Discovery College participated with one team in Lower Primary and these Caissa pupils showed great spirit.

James on board 1 faced tough opponents and scored a good 3 points. On board 2 Seth, after a small dip after round 1, won a few in a row and ended with 4 points. Nathan on board 4 was less distracted now by the clocks and also scored 4 points, very good for a P1 student. Noah on board 3 was in top form and scored the full 7 out of 7 – and like last week collected a personal prize, but this time the top scorer prize!

James (back), Seth (standing) and Nathan and Noah analysing during the breaks

Noah, Nathan, James and Seth celebrate with Matthew

Proud coach Michel with happy Nathan and Noah

The team ended 5th out of 22 teams and that is a great result – well done DC team!

But Caissa also has students who do not go to Discovery College. In the Lower Primary Ritvik ended 7th with his Swiss German team and with 5.5 points got a personal prize: 3rd prize topscorer board 1. Nice!

Jake, who just started 3 weeks ago as Caissa student from scratch played on board 2 of the Hong Kong International C in his 1st tournament and for him this tournament was about getting experience only.

Caissa’s players in the Upper Primary were also active. Caissa student Howard played a great tournament and in his Quarry Bay School team B got 2nd top scorer prize on board 1 with 6.5 points. Impressive!

On board 2, Caissa member Toby Mak in the Quarry Bay School A Team, scored 6 points and got 2nd Prize Topscorer board 2 and 2nd prize for the team. Anika from Swiss German team A scored 5 points on board 2 – and with some more luck would have had a full point more.

Finally, in the Secondary we are very proud of Melvin Cheung who got shared 1st prize topscorer on board 1 of HK International Team A with 6 points. That is by any standard an impressive score. Congrats Melvin.

Melvin with 6 points on board 1 wins 2nd Prize

Melvin with 6 points on board 1 wins and wears 2nd Prize medal

Discovery College Youth win Prizes again in HKCF Inter-School

March 25th, 2015

With 4 teams from Discovery College, all Caissa players and students of course!, we set out Sunday morning on 22 March to participate in the HKCF national inter-school event of this year. Unfortunately due to late cancellations we ended up one player short.

The DC Secondary team, with only first year secondary students, had to face very strong and older opponents – but despite this Richard on board 1 and Carlo on board 4 impressed by scoring 5 and 4.5 points respectively. Bryant on board 2, who in several games started off well but then could not convert his better position into a win, scored 1.5 points and Samira on board 3 also scored 1.5 points.

2015interschoolDCsecondary

The DC Upper Primary Team B was the team with only 3 players and of course that hits the motivation. In the last few rounds the team got more settled and started to collect some points. Due to inexperience some games with clear winning advantage were unfortunately not converted into wins but hopefully our kids will see this as a motivation to increase experience and play more often.

2015interschoolDCprimaryteamb

The DC Upper Primary Team A has become a serious title contender already for some years. Also this year we see impressive scores from Miguel Angel on board 1, Mei Jing on board 2 and Chor Wei on board 3 with 5.5, 6 and 5 points respectively. Koza, although starting well, let go a bit in the end but together with the point he scored this team ended on the 4th place and all players received a medal.

Furthermore Miguel Angel received a 3rd Prize medal for 1st board player and Mei Jing collected 2nd Prize for 2nd board player and the 1st Prize for best girl. Way to go Mei Jing!

Mei Jing showing off her 3 medals

The DC Lower Primary Team, Disco Knights, impressed a lot. James on board 1 played calmly and scored a good 4 points on board 1. Noah was especially in form and with 5 points he received 3rd Prize medal for board 2. Well done Noah – your first prize is in – surely more to come!

DC Disco Knights pep-talked by coach Michel

Kian on board 3 played very well but was unlucky at times and with a good score of 4 points remained just out of the prize zone. Nathan, in his 2nd tournament, but first one with a clock from the beginning, kept an eye too many on the clock. However, a memorable game he played check mating his opponent on the back rank with 2 bishops. Nathan is an upcoming talent and we will see more from him.

Disco Knights before Action

Disco Knights in Action

The team ended 5th place. Well done boys!

2015interschoolDClowerprimary

Seven Caissa Players in Hong Kong Delegation to World School Chess Championship 2015 in Pattaya

March 20th, 2015

The FIDE World School Chess Championship in 2015 will take place in Pattaya, Thailand, from 6-15 May. It is truly great to see that HKCF leapfrogged in terms of supporting so many Hong Kong players to attend the event.

A group of 13 of our top youth players, accompanied by 16 persons, shall defend our honor. These heroes (and we are very proud to have seven Caissa kids among them!) are:

Benjamin Oh U15
Katrina Lee G15
Oliver Yau U13 (Caissa Member)
Richard Takasumi U13 (Caissa Member and Student)
James Kwong U11 (Caissa Member)
Miguel Angel Garceran Wang U11 (Caissa Member and Student)
Huang Ho Pang U11
Mei Jing Garceran Wang G9 (Caissa Member and Student)
Deng, Yu Dong Michael U9
Harold Kwong U9 (Caissa Member)
Anika Roy G9 (Caissa Student)
Alan, Pang Bo U7 (Caissa Student)
Bao, Jinwen U7

We will be updating regularly.

Dusit Thani Pattaya World School Chess Championship 2015 – what a terrible place to go to :)

Active Kids Tournament – Caissa Pupils bring back home Personal and School Prizes to Discovery Bay

March 17th, 2015

REPORT by Caissa coach IM Matthew Tan

On the 15th of March Active Kids held a chess tournament at the ISF. The tournament consisted of 6 rounds of 50 minutes. I personally, was first of all curious about how our students would perform, but also interested in how things were organized here in Hong Kong. And what an experience it was!

Analysis Corner Caissa with coaches Michel watching and Matthew overlooking Seth and Noah’s analysis – and Pang Bo paying attention

Caissa was represented by no less than 9 players, spread out in all three categories. In the youngest section, Under 6, we had Nathan defending the Caissa honor. Nathan, who has yet to turn 6 and start his lessons, showed no signs of nervousness at his first tournament! After a lucky escape in the first round, he managed to win 3 games in a row and finish on 4 points. This was enough to claim the first prize U5, a trophy almost twice the size of his own head!

Nathan with his well deserved cup with proud coach Michel

Coaches Michel and Matthew standing with Ben where fellow Caissa pupils Mei Jing, Miguel Angel (back) and Ritvik are seated and ready!

With most of our kids playing in the primary section, we were hoping on some successes here as well. Noah had a tournament with ups and downs. Losses were followed by quick wins and after drawing with Seth in the last round he finished with 2.5 points. Seth had a completely different tournament. He started of really well, had to face some of the strongest players of the group which set him back a bit. In the end the 2.5 points we’re quite a decent result.

Ben’s tournament likely felt somewhat disappointing to him. He played really good games, but because of his lack of experience he sometimes couldn’t deliver the killing blow. He ended up at 2 points, but we’re sure he’ll do way better next tournament.

Ritvik and Kevin played more or less the same kind of tournament. Starting off really well, losing against a stronger player, getting back to the topboards again but eventually getting knocked down again. They both finished at a very reasonable 3 points and with a little more luck they can definitely contest for the prizes next time.

The only two left in this section were Miguel Angel and Mei Jing. Both managed to win their first 4(!) games. In the penultimate round they also got good positions, but when the clock arrived (after 30 minutes) they couldn’t control their nerves and eventually lost.

In the final round Miguel Angel drew his game which secured him the first place U10. Mei Jing lost, again after the clock arrived, but was the awarded the best female player prize nevertheless.

Mei Jing best girl Primary

Miguel Angel Best U10

Also because of the strong individual performances, the Discovery College school (Miguel Angel, Mei Jing, Seth and Noah) finished third place in this section.

Discovery College Players with 3rd Prize for the school (left to right): Miguel Angel, Noah, Mei Jing, Seth and Nathan

Finally, in the secondary section we had Richard playing for the top places. A win in the final round would’ve gotten him a shared first place, but despite his loss he ended 4th in the Secondary section.

All in all, as a coach I was really happy with the fighting spirit shown by all of the players. Even after a disappointing game, they would patch themselves up and give even more in the next game. I can only imagine what more there is to come!

(All results here: U6, Primary, Secondary)