Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

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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

Excitement and Drama in Round 6 of YGP 2 – Anything can happen in next round

March 4th, 2015

Unfortunately Ulysses could not make it today (resulting in an automatic win for Andy) but apart from that we had action on all other boards in round 6.

The Start of Caissa YGP Round 6 – Time to wake up Anika!

This was a round with highs and dramatic lows. To start with, on board 1 Teddy could have freed himself up to pole position for round 7 by beating James. His ferocious attack led to win of a piece and just-not-check-mate. However, possibly Teddy forgot that he was a piece up when he accepted James’ draw offer when his immediate check mate didn’t work.

On table 2 even more drama. Given the above, by winning from Ronald, Richard could have pushed himself up to first place instead of Teddy. But at the end of a long pawn endgame battle Richie let his completely winning position of King + Queen against Ronald’s King + pawn end in a draw. Tension and pressure must be high in this event as we all know Richard’s qualities to be way above this to happen – and similar things were to happen on other boards too…

Ronald (white) vs. Richard and Miguel Angel (white) vs. Harsh in the background

These results were definitely useful to Miguel Angel who beat Harsh by timing his king-side attack well enough to gain some pawns for free. It was also calmer and more straightforward to winning routes on the boards where Marco beat Toby and Mei Jing beat Harold after both Toby and Harold had made some early mistakes.

Samuel came with lots of advantage out of the opening with white against Anika but the excitement of having a good position could work against you if you lose patience and that is what might explain why Samuel lost the game.

Samuel against Anika on the foreground, followed by Seteven against Pak, mei Jing against Harold and Marco against Toby

Samuel against Anika on the foreground, followed by Steven against Pak, Mei Jing against Harold and Marco against Toby

Finally, the most impressive game seen in a while on any chess board was between Steven and Pak. Steven had developed his white pieces in such a harmonious way that when he lost his queen through a knight double attack check, he managed to create immediate counterplay. Allowing pins, creating new ones, trading few pieces in the way of several checks he wanted to give with his combined bishops, Steven suddenly had pushed the black king back to the middle of the board where it was checkmated by a combination of 3 minor pieces and a rook. Pak probably could have done something about it 10 moves earlier, e.g., by sacrificing something back, but the last 5 moves were already part of a forced win.

As can be seen from below ranking tables in the coming last round, anything can happen.

Cross Table Ranking after Round 6

Ranking after Round 6

Pairing Round 7

Teddy and and James share first place in YGP2 … and meet next Sunday

February 25th, 2015

With Miguel Angel drawing against Richard in round 5 Teddy has emerged on the top position again after his win against Ronald in that same round, sharing 1st place with James who won against Marco. The game to watch in round 6 will be James against Teddy!

Teddy with white against Ronald breaking through the center

Below the ranking after round 5 and the pairing for round 6:

Cross Table Ranking after Round 5

Pairing Round 5 Winter Open and Youth Grand Prix 2

February 4th, 2015

Coming Friday, Long and David, the only two players without a loss yet will meet to what would likely end with a fierce battle for the full point. Can Miguel Angel show against Conrad that his excellent win against Henry last week was not a coincidence? Will Koji push on after his clear win last week at cost of Michel? James and Henry will be eager to avoid 2 consecutive losses, but who will succeed, or is a draw good enough as Melvin with a BYE point will surely move up? All the answers coming Friday!

Pairing Caissa Winter Open 2015 Round 5

In the YGP2 round 5 Richard catapulted himself to board 1 where he will meet his Discovery Bay Caissa club mate Miguel Angel who seems to be in great from. Teddy, ranked second, will have to give it his all against Ronald who hasn’t lost yet. James will find a strongly ascending Marco as his opponent this time and Ulysses, who played a game less and still ranks high, will have to deal with Oliver who also hasn’t lost yet with 3 draws and a win out of his 4 games. Toby and Andy’s match outcome will be decisive in regard to staying in the top half or below as is the case with Harsh who can stay in the top half if he manages to beat Steven. Both girls Anika and Mei Jing will try to prove against Pak and Samuel respectively that it doesn’t happen all (Sun)days both girls lose! Harold can enjoy a free Sunday and point being the player with a BYE due to odd number of players.

Pairing Caissa Winter YGP2 2015 Round 5

Miguel Angel Leads YGP 2 flanked by four other players with equal points

February 3rd, 2015

After the 4th round there are five players, each with 3 points, topping the ranking.

On board 1 we had a lengthy but noteworthy battle of the titans of U12, James, and U10, Miguel Angel. Both players lead their age group in Grand Prix points and the game was daring and adventurous from both sides. In the beginning of the endgame Miguel Angel with white managed to force his queen towards close range from the black king and after some necessary exchanges to ease the pressure in front of the black king, Miguel Angel ended in a rook-bishop vs rook-bishop end game one pawn up. With only few minutes left on the clock Miguel Angel accepted the 3-fold repetition by James’ rook checks.

A great game worthy a replay:

On board 2, the U12 boys Ronald and Oliver drew in a game that looked very good for Oliver for a long time, but the pawn up advantage in the end was not enough for Oliver to win.

On board 3, Andy and Teddy had an important game for the U10 grand prix points. Teddy with black had put a lot of pressure on white, winning 2 pawns and later returning them for a superior king pawns endgame which was won very well.

Ulysses with white found Richard blocking his way to get a 3rd win in a row and through this win Richard is back in the top 5.

Marco played concentrated and well against Anika as did Harsh against Mei Jing. Despite their resilience it turned out not to be a good day for the girls.

Harold with white benefited from an error Samuel made early in the game and Toby unfortunately had to wait an hour and got a free point because of Steven’s no show.

Harold playing chess against Toby and Ulysses after finishing their games (Toby waiting for his opponent)

YGP2 Cross Table after Round 4

No player with hundred percent score after round 3 YGP2

January 26th, 2015

The results of the YGP1, in which all players over just 7 rounds had had to concede at least 1.5 point loss, remind us of the width of the player strength in this event. Also in YGP 2, there will be no walk-over with some of Hong Kong’s finest youth players competing here. Already after only round 3 there are no players with a hundred percent score.

Steven, enjoing his checkmate composition, had a BYE due to odd number of players today.

Steven, enjoying his checkmate composition, had a BYE due to odd number of players today.

On the top boards James, the YGP leader in U12, and Ronald played a cautious game, keeping pawns on the board and maneuvering their pieces behind their own lines which resulted after 2.5 hours in a draw.

Board 1: James with white against Ronald

Board 2: Teddy with white against Miguel Angel close to the critical moment of trades on d6

On board 2, Teddy, who was leading the pack after round 2 and who is 2nd place in YGP ranking U10, played aggressively with white against Miguel Angel, the YGP leader in U10. When teddy could play 16. Rxd6 he took on 16. cxd6 and that lonely pawn was enough for Miguel Angel to bite on and get his pieces out on the queen side such that Teddy had to sacrifice a knight with 33. Nxb5 to not get check mated.

 [Event "Caissa YGP2"] [Site "Caissa Sheung Wan Hong Kong"] [Date "2015.01.25"] [Round "3"] [White "Teddy Yang"] [Black "Miguel Angel Garceran Wang"] [Result "0-1"] 1. d4 d6 2. c4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bg5 c6 7. 0-0-0+ Ke8 8. Nf3 Nbd7 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. g3 Nc5 11. b4 Ne6 12. a3 a5 13. c5 b6 14. Ne4 Be7 15. Nd6+ Bxd6 16. cxd6 axb4 17. axb4 Ra1+ 18. Kc2 Rxd1 19. Kxd1 Kd7 20. Bg2 Kxd6 21. Kc1 Kc7 22. Nd2 Ba6 23. e3 Rd8 24. Nb1 Bb7 25. Kb2 c5 26. Bxb7 Kxb7 27. Kb3 cxb4 28. Kxb4 Nc5 29. Kb5 Rd3 30. Rc1 Rb3+ 31. Kc4 Kc6 32. Nc3 b5+ 33. Nxb5 Rxb5 34. Rc2 Rb3 35. Ra2 Rb1 36. Ra5 Rc1+ 37. Kb4 Nd3+ 38. Kb3 Nc5+ 39. Kb4 Kd5 40. Ra8 Nd3+ 41. Kb3 Rc6 42. Rf8 Nxf2 43. Rxf7 Ne4 44. Rxh7 Rc3+ 45. Kb2 Rxe3 46.h4 Rxg3 47. h5 Ng5 48. Rh8 e4 49. h6 e3 50. h7 Nxh7 51. Rxh7 e2 52. Re7 Rg2 53. Kc3 Rg4 54. Rxe2 Rg3+ 55. Kc2 f5 56. Kd2 f4 57. Rf2 Ke4 58. Ke1 Ke3 59. Re2+ Kf3 60. Rf2+ Kg4 61. Kf1 f3 62. Ke1 Rh3 63. Kd2 Kf4 64. Rf1 Rh2+ 65. Kd3 Re2 66. Rg1 Rg2 67. Re1 f2 68. Rf1 Kf3 0-1 your web browser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chessboard; alternatively your wordpress theme might suppress the html iframe tag from articles or excerpts

On the other boards Oliver and Marco had a quick draw and Mei Jing could not repeat her excellent result against Richard from YGP1 and gave a away the draw in a completely draw rook endgame.

Toby, in a winning position, started to follow Ulysses speed and unnecessarily lost materials and the game in the end. Andy’s attack came too close to Pak’s king for Pak to avoid a loss and Harsh won the game against Harold quickly once he got a piece up.

Harsh prepared his white pieces for entry into Harold's black territory

Harsh prepares his white pieces for entry into Harold’s black territory

The pairing for round 4 will be done Wednesday noon – the final BYE in this tournament to be requested before then.

See below the results and the cross-table ranking after round 3.

Pairing and Results Round 3

Cross-Table and Ranking after Round 3

Only Teddy, James and Ronald keep their 100 percent score after round 2 YGP2

January 20th, 2015

All 16 players were present last Sunday for round 2 of the Youth Grand Prix 2. Only James, Ronald and Teddy remain unbeaten with Teddy the new leader of the pack after round 2!

Results Round 2 YGP 2

Crosstable and Ranking after Round 2

Pairing Round 3 YGP2

Winter Youth Grand Prix (YPG2) Round 1 Results

January 14th, 2015

Sunday 11 January the second cycle of standard chess (90 minutes for each player) took off with again some of Hong Kong’s best youth players competing for trophy prizes and grand prix points for sponsored overseas tournment participation. The current ranking in the YGP can be found in this entry.

On board 1, two prize winners of the preceeding YGP1, James and Andy had a tense game which in the end, pressurising the position, James managed to turn into a win.

Harold against … who?

Harold against Marco!

On board 2 Harold lost a piece somewhere down the line in the middle game and Marco had no problem converting the material advantage into a win.

On board 3 we had again 2 prize winners of the preceding YGP, Oliver and Miguel Angel, playing against each other. The game resulted in a draw when Miguel Angel did not see a way through after having closed down the position with his powerful black pawns on a5, b4 and c3.

On board 4 Pak lost a piece against Richard who remained cool enough to stop Pak from getting enough counter play with his advanced a-pawn.

Pak with white against Richard

On board 6 Ronald managed to win material from Samuel early in the game and converted this into a straightforward win and on board 7 Toby’s black queen had entered on b2 to create some havoc but found no way out when Teddy trapped it there and therewith secured the win.

Teddy with White against Toby

We had an odd number of players and Mei Jing was (very voluntarily) paired against the BYE.

There were no requests for a BYE for coming Sunday before today, Wednesday 12 noon, and the pairing for round 2 is a per below.

YGP Pairing Round 2

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

Registration HK Juniors Championship 2014 Open

November 4th, 2014

Event is held on 29 (U13 & U17) and 30 November (U7, U9, U11 and U13 & U17)

Unfortunately a clash with our 29 November Caissa DB Rapid Open tournament for youth players older than 13. If you are 13 or older, best to join the HK Championships. Younger players, please join both – the DB Rapid is a good warming up!

Registration for the Junior Championship closes on 19 November.