The Hong Kong chess team ended after 9 rounds of chess battle on the 13th place. Unfortunately Hysan lost all his 9 games, Cyrus scored 0.5 out of 9, Sunny 1 out of 9, Adrian 2 out of 5 and David 2 out of 4.
Here are all the results of the Hong Kong team in the 2012 Asian Nations Cup.
In “experience points” this team obviously gained a lot more meddling among players who play chess for a living and this year’s baseline of 13th is the target to beat next year.
Welcome back home Hong Kong team!
Today’s win against Taipei city of China (as Taiwan is called for this occasion) was anticipated – as was the taste of beers we promised ourselves upon a win.
Hysan on board 4 did not take the initiative in time. David on board 3, played with black again a Philidor but this time white opted for queens exchange on d8. David won an early pawn and played it all up after exchanging the rest of the pieces towards promotion and win.
Sunny, quickly a piece up after a stormy Scandinavian, decided to go for the best composition prize, sacrificing his bishop back close to black’s king and rendered black further helpless.
A draw for Cyrus on board 1 would have been enough for the team win and that is how the game ended, despite a pawn up and probably having had the opportunity to win on several occasions.
Hong Kong team getting ready for Taipei, from front to back: Cyrus, Sunny, David and Hysan.
The opening round of the Asian Nations Cup was a tough start for Hong Kong against Iran.
Asian Nations Cup 2012 Round 1 Hong Kong - Iran
Hysan on board 4 could not stop grand master Golizadeh from winning material and creating havoc deep behind the black defense lines.
David tried against international master Porya his Sokolsky 1.b4 club-level favorite but in the exchange line, move 10. Qc1 probably can be improved (1.b4 e5 2.Bb2 Bb4: 3. Be5: Nf6 4. c4 Nc6 5. Bb2 010 6. a3 Be7 7. Nf3 d5 8. cd5: Nd5: 9. e3 Bf6) because after 10 Qc1 Re8 11. Be2 Bg4 12. 0-0 Nf4 remained cramped for white. Or maybe instead of 6. a3 first focus on short castling as with 4. …Nc6 the move a3 becomes less urgent.
Cyrus on board 1 played a kind of modern defense against grand master Ghaem Maghani, the number 1 of Iran, who nurtured a small positional advantage all the way to a win.
Sunny on board 2 led his Dutch opening against international master Seyedjavad to a drawish end position until the end of the time, when he forgot to press the clock and his time was up…
Tomorrow another day. Hong Kong is paired against Indonesia who lost 3-1 against Kazakhstan in round 1.
Here is a movie about the opening and round 1.
The winner of the Asian Nations Cup, held from 17-26 May 2012 in Zao Zhuang, China PRC, will represent Asia on the World Team Championship in 2013. The stakes are high and the following team to represent Hong Kong has been selected by the Hong Kong Chess Federation (HKFC):
We wish them good luck in their daunting task in a tournament with a rather high density of GMs, IMs and other talents per square meter … stay tuned …
