Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Hong Kong in Troubles against S-Korea

May 19th, 2012

The third round against S-Korea Hysan on board 4 came well out of the opening but did not put his pieces on the active squares that were available and was consequently pushed off the board.

On Board 3, David tried out again 1.b4 against FM Chogdov who avoided all main lines with a quick 4. … d6 in the exchange variation. White achieving an ideal set-up was fooled into closing the diagonal of his Bb2 and he did not pay enough attention to the attacking potential of cramped-looking black pieces positioned all the way back in the black queen wing.

On board 1, Cyrus who faced FM Camacho Collados, played a very attacking variation with his white queen controlling the entire board on d6 from move 10 on. Camacho did not free himself properly even when the queens were traded off and the first casualty on S-Korean side seemed a fact, until a wrong move order by white changed the natural course of events.

The last to finish was Sunny on board 2, the most unfortunate loss. Sunny punished an inaccuracy of his opponent CM Lee and was a piece up until close to time-up Sunny gave back a piece and had an endgame with black rook against his opponent’s bishop and knight and both four pawns. With little time on the clock it is very difficult to stay precise.

Asian Nations Cup 2012 Round 3 Hong Kong - Iran

The 4-0 loss looks worse than the games actually played and this Hong Kong team is about to get to the next plateau and in matches like those of today, score better.

Here is the official FIDE reporting of this round.

Tomorrow against Taipei.

Hong Kong Team Scores a Point Against Indonesia in Round 2 Asian Nations Cup 2012

May 18th, 2012

In the second round against Indonesia it went a little better.

Asian Nations Cup 2012 Round 2 Hong Kong - Indonesia

Hysan’s early loss on board 4 did not take away the steam from the other three games.

Cyrus on board 1 faced GM Megaranto, Indonesia’s current number 1. Cyrus locked in his white bishop via e6, which turned out to be enough positional advantage for the grand master to convert in a win.

Sunny on board 2 played an aggressive line in the Aljechin opening against FM Hamdani. Sunny sacrificed a pawn for attack and he might have had some chances to further pursue adventures near black’s king, if he only had more time.

On board 3 the game between David and CM Muhammad let to a Philidor Defense in which black’s pressure on the queen side made the candidate master do some inaccuracies which led to a rook win by David. With both players less than a minute on the clock left, it was white who lost his cool and maneuvered himself in a checkmate position.

The honor is saved – now let’s see if we can get something more tomorrow in round 3 against South Korea.

Asian Nations Cup 2012 Rank after Round 2