Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

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Joseph Wins Autumn Open, Henry 2nd and James 3rd

November 1st, 2014

The last round of the Autumn Open 2014 last Friday evening turned out to be a roller coaster ride as was the case with the YGP: until the last minute it was not clear who would win which prize.

At the start of Round 7 everything was still possible on the top boards – Henry having a bird’s eye perspective of his game against Koji

At the start of round 7 Joseph led the tournament with 5.5 points out of 6, having played a draw only to James, and he seemed to be cruising towards an undisputed title. However, in the last round the not-so-rusty-anymore Long turned out to be strong enough by now to win an endgame of double rooks and pawns in an impressive manner – very precise play.

James, who had 4 points at the start of round 7 played a solid game with black against Melvin. Instead of trying to create counter play Melvin mostly reacted to James’s threats which helped James controlling the game and finally promote a pawn decisively. James now had 5 points.

Henry, who already had 5 points at the start of round 7, was kept under pressure with black by Koji (4 points at the start of round 7) who had a dominating knight controlling the middle of the board, unopposed by Henry’s enclosed bad bishop. Koji’s win secured Joseph his title and among Henry, James and Koji with 5 points it were Henry and James who ended 2nd and 3rd on tie-break and Koji just out of the prize zone.

On the other boards Hannah and David won against Toby and Ray respectively.

Congratulations to Joseph, Henry and James for their top 3 position and to all other players for upholding a very good atmosphere and some fine play throughout the event. Especially also a big applause for the youth players Toby, Ray, Melvin, Richard and Miguel Angel who dared to challenge the adults.

Prize Winners James, Joseph and Henry with trophies and envelopes!

Prize Winners James, Joseph and Henry – well done gentlemen!

Final Ranking Cross Table Caissa Autumn Open 2014

Finale Coming Sunday to become a thriller as top 3 boards all drew

October 20th, 2014

Differences are really small in the very strong line-up of Hong Kong’s best youth players. Last Sunday we saw 3 draws on the first three board.

On board 1 Benjamin moved his white pieces to active squares trying to crack Miguel Angel’s Philidor – but Miguel Angel’s position held well and just as the black pieces were about to leap out into white territory Miguel Angel offered a draw. With almost all pieces still on the board and with only a minute left for Benjamin, he wisely accepted the draw. Stress levels are high at this tournament. That, and perhaps the toll of the Shenzhen tournament still played that same morning, can explain why Miguel Angel offered a draw – a minute, without increment, is really a short time to survive. The game was in any case a wortwhile event in itself to watch and nothing but applause for both Benjamin and Miguel Angel.

James (white ) and Ronald in Deep Though (or hiding for the camera?)

James (white ) and Ronald in Deep Though (or are they hiding for the camera?)

On board 2, James against Ronald, we also had the time dimension echoing into the game. With little time left on the clock James was still calmly walking around looking at other games but when he finally had created himself a winning end game of rook with few pawns against knight with less pawns James had no time enough to finish it and he had to head fast towards a draw.

Oliver, a little sick, faced Richard, who also had just come back from Shenzhen, and in a double rook end game the boys settled for a draw as there seemed to have been some perpetual elements on the board and they both looked genuinely tired.

Andy, who actually also was participating in Shenzhen, got stuck in traffic and his opponent Rachel won by default, as did Mei Jing because Ray could not make it.

Harold won against Marco, Teddy beat Sabrina, Samach beat Samuel and Steven won against Toby.

With the top 4, actually the top 8 players so close to each other anything can happen next week. A BYE has not been allowed anymore since round 5 and hopefully most players will make it next Sunday or will be able to arrange their game to be played before Sunday under parental supervision.

Joseph Unstoppable in Autum Open

October 18th, 2014

Last Friday it turned out to be Mission Impossible also for Koji to try to stop in-form Joseph cruising towards his 5th victory. Henry, who only conceded a loss against Joseph did good business in solidifying his 2nd spot with a win against Richard.

Long is appearantly throwing all rustiness off him that came from 10 years no play as he secured an important win against Hannah who hasn’t found her form yet.

Ray convincingly drew against Miguel Angel and James with black against Michel defended fiercefully enough to win the game and as such he slowly crawled to 3rd place already which comes with the honor to try to stop Joseph next week in round 6…

Autumn Youth Grand Prix Fully Open Again after draw between James and Miguel Angel

October 14th, 2014

Last Sunday on board 1 the only two undefeated players, James Wing Ki and Miguel Angel were facing off to stay on top. James opened d4 against Miguel Angel who choose and Old Indian set-up in the same spirit of playing his Philidor weapon against e4. After 28 moves the game was agreed to be a draw but it is somehow unfortunate that young players agree on draws when the board is still full of adventures to explore.

James, Wing Ki with white vs Miguel Angel

On board 2 Ronald and Andy played the longest game of the evening, won by Ronald. On board 3 Benjamin won against Marco in a game that was simply played too fast as was what happened on board 4 with Oliver winning against Ray.

Ronald faces Andy's Sicilian (foreground)

Ronald Choy

On board 5 Rachel beat Sabrina and on board 6 we had a thriller between Richard and Teddy in a rook vs. bishop end game – after Ronald vs. Andy, the longest game. Although technically it should have been a draw, under various kinds of pressure, like Teddy having to return to Shenzhen, Teddy made a mistake and Richard scored an important point.

Teddy vs. Richard aka Bishop vs. Rook endgame

Wing Shun Harold played more concentrated and motivated than Mei Jing which translated into a deserved win for Harold. Steven, despite being some material down in the beginning against Samach, managed to win a queen by double attack and thus won his game as did Toby against Samuel early in the evening.

With 4 players with 4 points all playing against each other next week we will have a great Sunday to look forward to – anything can happen!

Ranking after 5 Rounds and Pairing Round 6

Joseph leads Autumn 2014 Competition after Thriller against David

October 11th, 2014

David changed his d4 Veresov for a Queens Gambit last Friday trying to stop Joseph from winning his 4th game in a row. Joseph responded with a Slav, d5, c6, e6 set-up and was able to mount serious pressure on David’s king side which nonetheless held – even such that David managed to sneak into black territory with his knight and win a rook when Joseph did not pay attention enough. After that David spend too much time trying to convert the winning position into a point and in a high time pressure situation even lost the game in a neat checkmate orchestrated by Joseph’s queen and knight.

James tricked Ray into losing his queen early in the game and the two pieces Ray got back was never enough to prevent James from playing the game out as a technical win.

Henry played solidly against Hannah’s French and came maybe with a slight plus out of the opening. In what still seemed an even game it came to a shock to Hannah to find herself having overseen a sudden check mate by Henry.

Melvin had to face Michel’s French and when he gave away a piece on the way to the middle game this was the second game that could be played out technically without problems for Michel.

Miguel Angel and Toby played a dynamic game against each other and although Miguel Angel won some material early in the game Toby managed to put his black rooks on the 2nd rank as he invaded white’s queen side. Yet, an inaccuracy by Toby let to too much material loss and a win for Miguel Angel.

Next week it is up to Koji to try to stop Joseph …

Ranking after 4 Rounds and Pairing Round 5

Return to Business as Usual after Golden Week

October 8th, 2014

The first week of October is traditionally, with the National Day on October 1 and the following Chung Yeung festival, a golden opportunity to combine those national holidays with a weekend and enjoy a nice break.

This year the occupation by demonstrators of key traffic arteries in Hong Kong required some maneuvering of plans for many people. But not for those participating in the biggest yearly chess tournament in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong International Open, as always planned during this Golden Week. The event, with a handsome prize fund this year from the Kasparov Foundation, took place at Hong Kong University in Pok Fu Lam, away from the crowds.

Although here and there some of the local players suddenly had to report duty at work because of the demonstrations, of course affecting their results, by and large the tournament went smoothly and as expected with a dozen or so overseas GMs, IMs, FMs and CMs participating, the top spots were out if reach for the locals. Only one Hong Kong player managed to get in the top 20: congratulations to Alberto for his 15^th place with 6 points.

Alberto Muniz - higehst scoring among HK Players

Alberto Muniz, highest scoring player among HK Players – by the way, can you spot the 3 Caissa players in their white club shirts (photo borrowed from Cyrus Lai’s Facebook)

The Hong Kong Local Open on Mondays in Queen Elisabeth Stadium, close to the demonstration zone, remains a challenge to get to for some players – including Caissa’s Michel who had to forfeit twice. Nonetheless, round 6 was played last Monday and also here Alberto did good business by defeating Jake and he is with Brian 1.5 points loose from the competition. An interesting game next week will be between Brian and Caissa’s David and Alberto against Chor Yuen, who was the 2^nd best Hong Kong player in the International Open ending on 21^st place.

On a smaller scale, the Caissa Autumn Open 2014 will also proceed with round 4 on Friday 10 October. Koji, Richard and Long have requested a BYE. The other 5 boards will surely produce some exciting games.

Business as usual.

Caissa Autumn Open 2014 Pairing Round 4

James and Miguel Angel now lead Autumn 2014 YGP

September 22nd, 2014

Last Sunday James Wing Ki fulfilled his personal task, to stop Benjamin from winning 4 times in a row, with flair.

In another decisive game, Miguel Angel managed to win a few pawns in Sabrina’s King’s Indian set-up and storming into the black position also won other material to end the game with a win. James and Miguel Angel now top the ranking list.

The important game between Benjamin and James watched by coach Michel and Ronald

The game between Benjamin and James watched by Michel and Ronald

Teddy bravely sacrificed a queen for a strong attack, got his queen back later, and in what seemed a drawish position tried to force the win again, but with an inaccurancy and Andy held his position and finally won.

Marco had a very fast win against Samach who had played a strong tournament so far.

Rachel played the longest game of the evening, again, and had an equal position against Ronald for a long time, until Ronald managed to trade his rook for two pieces, active enough to press on with his pawns towards a winning endgame.

Rachel patiently taking her time to think through the posotion against Ronald

Rachel patiently taking her time to think through the position against Ronald

After a loss against Toby in the Friday Autumn Open, Ray this time beat Toby and it seems with extra patience Ray is growing strongly into the tournament.

Mei Jing saw her queen go off the board for a rook but she managed to get the queen back and ultimately win her game against Samuel.

As Louis and Thomas Sunday decided to withdraw, their opponents, Richard and Steven, were paired against each other but unfortunately Steven did not arrive and Richard won by default.

Results Round 4 and Ranking after 4 Rounds

Four rounds have already been played and there are no more BYEs allowed in the last 3 rounds. Therefore the pairing for round 5 which will be played on 12 October has already taken place and is as follows:

Pairing Round 5 – to be played on 12 October 2014

Autumn Open Round 2: Only Joseph and Henry at 100 percent

September 13th, 2014

Last Friday, compared to last week when half of the players were in Singapore, we had full house and with the lucky odd number of 13 participants it was David who got a BYE.

Michel played with black against Ray who, despite an unfortunate trade order which cost him a pawn, played an excellent game but the pawn was enough for Michel to pressure the game into a win.

Michel in Deep Thoughts

James played with white against Long You who after over a decade of chess hibernation is picking it up again – starting at our tournament. Long won a pawn on the h- file but found himself after that in a difficult position to deal adequately with James’ active pieces.

With all heavy pieces behind a long and closed pawn chain Richard and Melvin ended their game in a draw – it seemed not easy to break through without weakening the own structure.

Richard and Melvin moving towards - backgroud James against Long

Richard and Melvin moving towards draw with contours of a long pawn chain – backgroud James against Long

Henry played a solid game against young Toby whose slight inaccuracy resulted in a short route towards win for Henry.

Close to the tabiya of an Old Indian set-up, Miguel Angel with black played a5 against Koji at the wrong moment. As a consequence, white’s bishop on e3 increased in power, eyeing the weak b6 square, such that black was quickly running out of good moves and towards a loss.

Perhaps the highlight match of evening was Joseph against Hannah. French expert Hannah could this time not hold Joseph and through Joseph’s win both he and Henry lead with 2 points now. They will meet each other next week.

Joseph pushes his white pieces into Hannah's queen side - background Henry against Toby

Joseph trying to control his queenside to meet Hannah’s adventurous black queen – background Henry against Toby

Rank Round 2