Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Welcome to the New Season

August 19th, 2015

Welcome back all! We are about ready for the start the 2015-16 season. First lessons commencing on Saturday 22 August.

We do have some changes though. After 3 years of experience, we now have a better feeling of what works. As such we have decided to discontinue the membership system for only playing on Saturday in DB from 1.30pm.

Instead of membership, we will focus on increasing quality of play so our students remain interested as they learn more. We have occasionally seen interest go down with members who only play once a week for an hour and thus make no motivating progress. We will simply follow many other activities or sports like musical instruments, football, rugby or tennis where training is an integral part of the activity, before and during competition – in fact, no competition when no training seems a healthy norm.

While from September 2015 on we will thus focus on training we will also introduce a “Last Saturday of the Month” (in DB) and “Last Sunday of the Month” (in Sheung Wan) competition, only for our students enrolled in a course. Our students will thus, on a monthly basis, still be able to practice what has been learned. Saturday DB students can participate in the Sunday SW competition and the other way around. Private students or students at other locations can join also in both the DB and the SW last week of the month competition. We will give out small prizes like a trophy or medal for each such monthly competition.

All our students will be entitled to the discounts for Caissa events that were given to members previously.

Note finally that classes will start in August but only on Saturday and Sunday as per last year’s schedule. From September on we will start with a more extensive schedule which will also include weekdays after school both in DB and SW.

The tentative training schedule is already online and we aim to have the finalized training schedule for September finished by the end of this week. In the meanwhile I hope to start seeing some of you already this weekend!

Open Dutch National Titles x3 for Hong Kong Youth!

August 11th, 2015

On 2 August, youth players from Hong Kong and some who were in the USA that time, from Boston, embarked on an intercontinental trip to The Netherlands to participate in the ONJK – Open Dutch Youth Championship 2015 from 3-8 August.

Accompanied by parents, aunt, uncle, grandpa, coach, and together with our local Dutch Caissa girl, who joined us in Holland, our group of total 18 people finally carried eight Caissa Hong Kong’s Chess Club players.

The drive from Schiphol airport to the hotel Erve Hulsbeek took 1.5 hours and once we arrived and checked in, it was the perfect moment to explore the neighborhood and for a big cheers on the terrace and to explore the nearby city center of Oldenzaal to do some shopping.

Arrived at Erve Hulsbeek – Cheers!

Bao Jin Wen … and the rest …

Exploring the area. Nice beach and Fong Li and Mei Jing – chess friends forever!

Into the city

Shopping at the local “Park n Shop” called Albert Heijn

Round 1 on the next day, 3 August, would not start until the afternoon. After a typical Dutch no-frills breakfast of freshly baked bread, ham, cheese, croissant and such there was still some time to play around – and in Holland that could lead to biking and feeding cows…

Erve Hulsbeek Hotel Breakfast

The biker girls Mei Jing, Jasmine and Hoi Ching

Feeding Number 2059, Hoi Ching’s favorite cow.

Our players were spread out over almost all age groups:

Group B (U16): Melvin Cheung and Fong Li Calje
Group D (U12): Jasmine Leung and James Wing Ki Kwong
Group E (U10): Miguel Angel Garceran Wang
Group F (U9): Mei Jing Garceran Wang and Harold Wing Shun Kwong
Group H (U7): Jin Wen Bao

Early morning players towards the buses for the ride to the playing venue Sporthal ‘t Wooldrik

Jin Wen warms up before round 1 with former ONJK U9 champion Luuk van Steenhoven

Jin Wen and James on their way to their round 1 game

The tournament has started …

Our analysis corner from which we followed and analysed all games (photo: Tu Tran)

(See also report FGH Group on tournament site)

The F (U9), G (U8) and H (U7) would play two tournaments, the first one of 9 rounds in 3 days in their own age group and then another 11 rounds in the subsequent 3 days. A gruesome schedule by any standard.

But in Jin Wen we had a true hero in our team. In the first part of the tournament the G and H category were mixed but Jin Wen emerged as winner of his age group H … and also higher than anyone in the G age group. A true world champion who can add an Open Dutch title now to his list of achievements!

Game preparations at Jin Wen’s table

Jin Wen against Wendy

Cross Table Open Dutch Championship H (U7) & G (U8) mixed

Bao Jin Wen – CHAMPION!!!!

Our F group players Mei Jing and Harold had a tougher time but still managed to score 4.5 points and ended 14th and 17th respectively.

Harold before action

Other kind of action: Harold, Jin Wen and Miguel Angel playing football in between the rounds with Matthew and David (not on photo)

Mei Jing against a player with sound blocker.

In the second part of the F, G and H group tournament, when all three groups were merged and for our kids opponents would thus be stronger, we suddenly see a stronger Harold score 5.5 points now, Mei Jing even getting 7 points and Jin Wen again emerging as champion of all 3 age groups. Well done Jin Wen, you are a true champ, but also to Harold and Mei Jing: huurraaay!

Mei Jing sad after would an unnecessary loss cost her a prize - she stayed 0.5 pints behind the first 2 placed girls

Mei Jing sad after an unnecessary loss cost her a prize – she stayed 0.5 pints behind the first two placed girls. Cheer Up Mei Jing, next time better.

Final Ranking FGH after 11 rounds (first 37 of 46 payers)

ONJK 2015 – Caissa HK: Jin Wen Champion again!

In the E (U10) group Miguel Angel was in top shape! With fierce and intelligent play and a strong will to win he was already champion with still a round to go! But also the last round he did not take it easy and with 12.5 out of 13 he might have broken a record. He was the absolute best player in this age group – good to see that the level of a Hong Kong U10 Champion is strong enough to triumph in other countries, of which Holland is one of the strongest. Well done Miguel!

Miguel Angel shaking hands with Casper Bleeker who would end 2nd

Miguel Angel shaking hands with Kasper Bleeker who would end 2nd

Miguel Angel and Wing Ki always in the top of the list and supporting each other

Miguel Angel and Wing Ki table tennis teamwork against some Dutch!

Analysis of each game was part of the deal.

A crucial game and break through was against nemesis Constantijn Beukema. Miguel Angel’s win was important to also beat Kasper Bleeker in round 6. In round 7 followed the only draw against Jan Casur.

Miguel Angel Champion E group (U10)

Miguel Angel’s impressive score after 13 rounds: a deserved Champion!

Evening entertainment in the hotel with Mexican music …

… and Opa’s Spanish water …

In the D group our players were Jasmine and Wing Ki. Jasmine had never ever played a longer tournament than the one, max two days, events that had been organized in the past in Hong Kong, mostly rapid. This event, 40 minutes and 30 seconds increment was an entirely different speed.

Jasmine in the middle – nervous but always happily smiling – here amidst her team members and coaches

Jasmine with mom Sally

Pep talk from coach Matthew for Jasmine

After 13 rounds Jasmine had accumulated 5 points. Keep it up Jasmine, good job!

Jasmine, Mei Jing with Hoi Ching cooling down after a day of chess

Jasmine (orange), Mei Jing with Hoi Ching (white) cooling down after a day of stressful chess

Wing Ki also played in the D group and as 11-year old he must have been among the younger players in this U12 age group. Until the very last round it was not sure whether he would be 2nd place or would be crowned Champion.

Wing Ki in preparations for his game with some final advice from coach Matthew

Last round. Wing KI had won. All watching the game between Gilian Honkoop and Nathaniel. A win for Nathan or a draw would be enough for Wing Ki to win ...

Last round. Wing Ki had won. All watching the game between Gilian Honkoop and Nathaniel Faybish. A win for Nathan or a draw would be enough for Wing Ki to win … and it became a king vs king and h-pawn draw!

Wing Ki had beaten Gillian in their game and as such claimed the Champion title with an impressive score!

Wing Ki had beaten Gilian in their individual game and as such claimed the Champion title with an impressive score!

Wing Ki gets Champion prize from the Mayor of Borne City

Wing Ki had received the Champion prize from the Mayor of Borne City

Congratulations Wing Ki!!! You got our 3rd National Open Dutch title. We can go home proudly!

Our 3 National Champions flanked by proud and happy David and Matthew

In the B Group it was unfortunate that in round 1 Melvin and Fong Li were paired against each other. The game resulted in a draw. Both Fong Li, who hadn’t seriously played for 3 years, and Melvin, who had never participated in 9 round standard chess tournament within a week, played many draws and it was lack of experience or recent practice that turned some games into some avoidable losses. We had great fun analyzing Melvin’s “immortal”, when he refused a draw while a queen down and 20 seconds on the clock …

Fong Li with 5 draws and a win and Melvin with 4 draws and 2 wins ended just below 50%. The B group is serious business and it is a score to accept with pride and to set as the baseline for … next year?

Fong Li and Melvin in round 1

Fong Li in deep thought (photo: Tu Tran)

Melvin, the last game of the day, played long games …

Melvin turned out to be a fine badminton player!

Sally and Jing were not bad either …

On Thursday, we had half a day off and of course the trip would be to Amsterdam, the only true tourist destination in Holland…

From Borne to Amstelveen and from there to Amsterdam by tram

Arrival at the Museum Plein with the Rijksmuseum in the background

Melvin and Miguel Angel study the chess game at Max Euwe Plein in Amsterdam

Live entertainment at Leidsche Plein

Jasmine, mom and Hoi Ching at the flower market

Jasmine, mom and sister Hoi Ching at the flower market

Terrace at the Dam monument

Jin Wen, a bit ill, carried by his aunt through the Amsterdam channels

Sally taking care of theBBQ when we for back - supported by Harold

Sally taking care of the BBQ when we got back from Amsterdam – supported by Harold

Finally, on the last day it was Opa’s 77th birthday.

Jin Wen helps Opa blowing the candles in the hotel

Happy Birthday Opa!

Finally thanks to ONJK 2015 for the great organization. Thumbs up from the whole group!

Hong Kong Players Very Successful in the Shenzhen Nanao 4 Regions Cross-Strait Tournament

July 30th, 2015

Photo album on Flicker

Hong Kong Delegation

With 8 players and 6 accompanying adults we set out on Sunday 26 to play in the Nanao Cup 2015, an event deep in Shenzhen inviting players from Shenzhen, Macao, Taiwan and Hong Kong to join. While at the venue we found more players from Hong Kong and as such we had a good representation.

Crowded with over 250 Participants …

Briefing … touch move, 3 times illegal is losing and cross your fingers is draw offer …

The event attracted over 250 players (spread out over the age categories U6, U7, U8, U10, U12 and an Open group) who awaited a gruesome 9 rounds of chess in just 3 days.

But the Hong Kong players were up for the task.

In the U6 Group we had Caissa’s upcoming star Mahir, who learned how to play chess just a few months ago, ending 6th place with 5 points – and he received a medal for this result. That is an excellent result as particularly in this age group Chinese youth is comparatively strong.

Mahir warming up in the lobby with new friends from Shenzhen

Mahir and his dad ready for the next round

In the U7 group we had Zig and Thanneermalai play for Hong Kong. When Thanneermalai had gotten used to the magnetic chess boards and small sized pieces on the last day he was unstoppable with 3 straight wins. Together with his earlier 2 wins he collected 5 points to end on 12th place. Well done!

Thanneermalai with pep-talking mom and sister

Zig was our other player in U7 and he played like a bulldozer. With 7 points he ended impressively on the 2nd place and received a nice trophy. Very impressive Zig!

Zig with his brother Ngai and his dad

Zig confident every time before going into action!

We had no players in U8 but in U10 we had our Caissa gunners Miguel Angel and Mei Jing. And they lived up to their reputation.

Because Mei Jing lost her last game she fell down to 15th place but still on 5th place of all girls with 5 points. As such she still got a medal. Good job Mei Jing!

Mei Jing thinking a few moves ahead already against seemingly nervous opponent …

Yes Mei Jing – you still got a prize!

Miguel Angel played a great tournament. He lost once, coming just 1 move short in a pawn end game, and he drew once. The level of his play was very high and with 7.5 points he ended 2nd place! Miguel Angel got a chance to put his new opening to practice in this strong field. Great preparation for the Open Dutch next week. Well done Miguel!

Miguel Angel with Melvin and Matthew – what is that we’re eating? A fish eye ball!

Miguel Angel - Hong Kong's U10 star player: lonely at the top?

Miguel Angel – Hong Kong’s U10 Lone Wolf star player

In the U12 category we had Ngai and Kannamai from Hong Kong. Kannamai scored 3 points and managed to get a 6th prize medal for girls. Good job Kannamai.

Kannamai in deep concentration

Kannammai on the stage - can you spot the proud dad?

Kannamai on the stage – spot the proud dad …

Ngai scored just below 50% and with 4 points ended 19th in this very strong age group. Not bad at all Ngai – this is truly a strong age group.

Mahir, Mei Jing, Miguel, Zig and Ngai with proud Caissa President David Garceran NIeuwenburg

Mahir, Mei Jing, Miguel, Zig and Ngai with proud Caissa and HKCF President David

In the Open category we had Caissa’s star player U16 Melvin and star coach IM Matthew Tan defending our honor.

Melvin scored 3 points by playing a handful of draws. Some bad luck kept him from more points but as this event was in preparation for the Dutch Open Melvin will join next week, the experience was very much worthwhile for him. With a little adventurous play we will see the best of him in Holland.

Melvin in action

Melvin overseeing the outdoor late evening analysis by Matthew

Matthew, among the top 3 in this group, all with 8 points, ended 2nd place on tie-break. Great score Matthew!

Matthew in action

David handing out the prizes in the Open group – this one goes to Matthew!

Prize winners Nanao Cup 2015

Unfortunately no prizes for battle chess ...

In the meanwhile … battle chess in the lobby…

David receiving a commemorative plaque for Caissa and HKCF

David with a commemorative plaque for Caissa and HKCF

Thanks all, players, parents, organizers. It was a great event in very good atmosphere. We’ll be back!

National Blitz Championship 2015: four National Champions from Caissa

June 28th, 2015

HKCF National Blitz 2015

The Hong Kong Chess Federation 1st National Blitz Championship was an important event in various ways. It would, for the first time in decades, hand out formal National Champion titles and as such formal entitlement to represent Hong Kong in international events. Also, the event was FIDE rated and along the youth age categories there was this time also an Open section for adults.

And the event was a great success for Caissa players, young and old! We already alluded to the fact that some of our players were smoking hot on our chess party yesterday, such that prizes would seriously expected to be within reach, the actual results were better than we could expect.

NA Sydney Lai gives instructions to the youth section

In U8 we only had 2 Caissa students, Seth and Mahir. Mahir, among the youngest in this age group, played his first tournament and scored 3 points but gained lots of experience which is the only goal in your first tournament. Seth, whose strength lies in longer chess games, with 6 points out of 11 had a good tournament in a 3 minutes + 2 seconds time control.

Congratulations to the top 3, Steven, Zeth and Samach who all played in one of the Caissa YGP events and scored well there too. Here are all results of U8.

In U10 we had our hot shot students Samuel, Kevin, Meijing, Aaditya and Miguel Angel lined up with Caissa member Harold.

Miguel Angel proved to be strongest player in this age group: congratulations Champ! Aaditya ended 4th just one place out of a prize. Meijing became Girl Champion – there was unfortunately only one girl. We are very proud of all our students who scored many points. Also congrats to our long time chess friends Adrian and Gerent with their 2nd and 3rd place.

Miguel Angel National Blitz Champion U10!

Mei Jing U10 Champion Girl 2015

In U12 our Caissa gunners were Jay, Richard and Oliver. Jay has had very limited practice in 3 minutes + 2 seconds but still managed to score 4 points.

Although in the direct confrontation Oliver beat Richard, it was Richard who managed to stay on top after 11 rounds impressively defeating all other top 6 players. Oliver just fell out of prizes on 4th place and big congrats to Richard with his National Champion title.

Richard National Blitz Champion U12

All other players were pooled in the Open group. From Caissa we had Tejpal, Koji, Conrad, Melvin and Long participating.

Tejpal just (re)started chess recently and this tournament is for him to oil his engine. The 3.5 points scored is not bad after a very long time hiatus. Koji and Conrad managed to score 5 points, just short of 50% ending solidly in the middle range.

The U16 and other age categories higher than U12 were pooled in the Open and Melvin with 5.5 points ended 6th place overall but that score brought him the title of National Champion U16. Well done Melvin, we are proud of you!

In Open, Long, our 2 times in a row Caissa champion in our Friday evening cycles, ended 2nd place and was the only person to draw against the new National Champion Daniel. Well done Long! And congratulations to our friend Daniel too.

Melvin U16 National Blitz Champion

Long Open National Blitz Runner Up

Rectification – James and Miguel Angel win YGP3 in U12 and U10 and are overall 2014-15 YGP Winners in Their Age Groups

June 22nd, 2015

In 2014-15 we introduced the Youth Grand Prix to Hong Kong: a series of 3 tournaments standard chess (90 minutes per person, 7 rounds), 2 Blitz and 1 Rapid event. In each event grand prix points could be won by ending in the top 5 of the player’s age category.

Yesterday Sunday was the last round of the Spring YGP 3 and also the last round of the entire cycle that spanned some 10 months!

As in YGP 3 we had no U14 player we added a 3rd prize to the U12 and U10 age categories and because we had 4 U8 players we also added a Champion prize for that age group.

In the U12 category James could only be overtaken by Oliver if James would lose from Anika and Oliver would beat Miguel. The latter happened when Oliver, with only some 3 minutes left on the clock, surprised Miguel Angel with a checkmate in a complicated rook/bishop (Oliver) vs rook/knight and pawns end game. However, James did not lose from Anika in a rook endgame with 2 extra pawns and as such James became champion in the U12 group, followed by Oliver 2nd and Richard, who had to forfeit 2 games in earlier rounds, on the 3rd place.

In U10 age group, Miguel Angel, despite his loss against Oliver, stayed on top to be champion. Because of a BYE input mistake for Anika in round 4, Miguel Angel was followed by 2nd place Ulysses, who beat Harsh, and 3rd Harold, who with several pieces less miraculously managed to check mate Zeth. However, after correction and adding 0.5 points to Anika in round 4, it turned out that Anika ended number 2 and Ulysses number 3. Apologies for the mistake – and Anika will get her trophy and prize money soonest.

Zeth still remained the best performing player, and thus Champion of U8.

Congratulations to all prize winners!!!

Zeth Champion U8 with coach Matthew Tan

Prize Winners YGP3 with coach Matthew (left to right): Harold, James, Miguel Angel, Zeth, Richard, Ulysses and Oliver – we are missing Anika who won 2nd prize in U10

Top players in each age category U14, U12 and U10 would be fully sponsored, including return flight, lodging, additional training etc., to join the Dutch Youth Open 2015. Prerequisite was that players would play minimal 3 YGP events and as such unfortunately we have no U14 winner.

The final YGP ranking after 6 events shows a strong winner in Miguel Angel in U10 and James in U12. We wish our YGP champions, and of course our other players who will join the Dutch Youth Open 2015, good luck, success and fun from 3-8 August. We will be reporting from there!

YGP 2014-15 Final Ranking

James and Miguel Angel lead their age groups after Round 6 in YGP 3

June 17th, 2015

In last Sunday’s round 6 James consolidated his 0.5 points lead by winning against Aaditya. He is also a full point ahead of Oliver, the number 2 in his group U12.

Miguel’s hard -fought win against Harsh kept him also a full point ahead of the numbers 2, 3 and 4, Andy, Anika and Aaditya, all with 3.5 points in the U10 age category.

Harsh (white) vs. Miguel Angel in a long and the last game …

Coming Sunday will be the last match in the YGP cycle and we will hand out the prizes to the winners of the Spring YGP3 and we will announce the overall YGP winners in the the age categories U12 and U10 who will get a fully funded trip to the Dutch Open!

Below the pairing for round 7 and the ranking after 6 rounds.

Pairing Round 7 Caissa YGP 3

Updated (5 June) – YGP3 has 6 Players with 3 points after 4 rounds

June 4th, 2015

Differences are minimal in the top half of the YGP cycle. Just like in the YGP1 and YGP2 editions, there surely won’t be a walk-over for any player and we need to sit tight until the final round to see what will eventually happen.

Such tight competition makes this tournament one of the most worthwhile events for our youth as it is also the only event in Hong Kong for youth with regular/standard time control of 90 minutes.

The ranking after 4 rounds here below:

Cross Table Rank after Round 5

Below the pairing of round 5:

First 7 players registered for Open Dutch Youth Championship

June 2nd, 2015

The Open Dutch Youth Championship is now only 2 months away. We have 7 Caissa kids enrolled and with over 10 accompanying persons joining our Hong Kong Bauhinia should create an impact among the Dutch tulips!

Melvin, one of the top scorers in the Secondary section of the HKJCC inter-school, and doing well in our Friday Spring Open, will play in Group B, 1999 or later.

Jasmine and James will play in Group D, 2003 or later.

Miguel Angel, Dutch Champion 2 years ago in Group G, is our player in group E, born in 2005 .

Harold and Mei Jing will play in Group F, born in 2006.

Jinwen, current School World Champion U7, will aim for his next title in Group H, born in 2008 or later.

Of course coach Matthew will also be in Holland to support our team.

If still interested to join – do let us know!

World School Chess Ends – One World Champion and one 3rd Place!

May 14th, 2015

On the site of the Hong Kong Chess Federation you can find a short entry on the end results of the World School Chess Championship 2015 in Pattaya. Playing under HKCF flag, Bao Jin Wen became World Champion U7 and Michael Deng ended 3rd pace in U9.

Michael Deng with Proud Mom

U7 World Champion Bao Ji Wen with Proud Family

This is probably the best performance ever for Hong Kong. As commented on the HKCF web site, these chess results are indeed remarkably good, however, what was at least as big a win was to see our Hong Kong children bond towards a team. Elephant riding, go-karting, water polo and by and large taking joint meals was the energizing glue between the heavy chess program at World Championship level, aka, playing 4 to 6 hours of serious chess competition per day, especially on the days of double rounds.

Scoring Table Hong Kong Players

The tournament over 9 rounds was run very smoothly in an amicable atmosphere. Everything started and ended in time and there were no incidents that affected the mood of players negatively.

After the children were in the playing hall, the nerves of (grand)fathers and coaches were tested ...

After the children were in the playing hall, the nerves of (grand)fathers, offcials and coaches were tested …

Our U9 Caissa girls Mei Jing and Anika scored 4.5 and 4 points respectively – a good score and the baseline for what is to come.

Anika Showing other Talents on Social Nite

Anika Showing some of her other talents on Social Nite

Also our Caissa boys Alan Pang Bo, Aaditya, Harold, James, Miguel Angel, Oliver and Richard were nothing short of their peers with scores ranging from 3 to 4.5 points. Also here, this is the baseline to improve from in the future.

U11 Huang Ho Pang and U15 Benjamin with 5 and 4 points respectively can also look back at a fine tournament.

Only rarely a computer game came out – here the “leak” was with Miguel Angel and Oliver…

Aaditya Mom Pep-talking

Pep-talk for Harold

Oliver’s Grandma Pep-talk

Pep-talk for Miguel Angel

Lucky Richie – no pep-talk but quickly going through some lines with dad before start of the game …

James and Harold meet the new U7 World Champion Bao Jin Wen

James and Harold congratulate the new U7 World Champion Bao Jin Wen

Having Fun Playing against the New World Champion U7

Thank you all fathers, mothers, grandmoms/dads and Caissa’s coach Matthew and Active Kids’ coach Marcos for having contributed in making this event a success by any standard.

Also good job to Alberto Muniz, who was Hong Kong’s section International Arbiter in the girls section.

In this event Hong Kong made a difference. More to come …

Pairing Round 3 Spring Competition and YGP3

May 14th, 2015

With many of our top youth playing in the World School Chess we had to postpone one round of both the YGP3 Cycle on Sunday and Spring Cycle on Friday evening as well as Saturday competition in Discovery Bay and all lessons of last weekend.

But we will be back and below the pairing of round 3 of both the Spring Open on Friday, with still various BYEs due to late traveling in from Thailand of a handful of players, and the YGP3 on Sunday which should be full house!

Pairing Round 3