Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

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All groups ready for the season start next week

September 2nd, 2013

Discovery Bay Intermediate

We looked at forks and pawn endings – doubled pawns, isolated pawns, backwards pawns and advanced pawns – which are good and bad and how to take advantage of them. Important learnings the great Philidor would agree with: pawns are the soul of chess.

 

Discovery Bay Beginners

It is getting crowded in the this group! Nonetheless we warmly welcome our new member Victor.

 

The Beginners Group in Full Action.

The Beginners Group in Full Action.

 

The Beginners Group can now be divided into two groups and after some introduction about tactics and strategy we played a small practice tournament.

In group A with Joshua, Wo Han, Max and Alex the differences were not so big. Joshua ended first (1.5 points) , Max (1 point) and Alex (1 point) both had a draw twice and Wo Han (0.5) had one draw. Interestingly, Max had a winning position twice but allowed his opponents to escape into the dark catacombs of stalemate. As mentioned in various earlier entries, this is quite normal and surely this won’t happen that often anymore with Max.

In group B it was Roshan who ended first with 1.5 points, followed by Gaurie (1 point), Julien (0.5 points) and the newest members Victor and Kevin did not score a point yet. No worries. These boys’ talents did not go unnoticed. It’s the clock (that countdown looks so fast), have to press it with the same hand you move pieces with, background (or is it foreground?) noise from fellow chess enthusiasts slamming on their clocks, coach David who keeps on talking (out loud) about “develop center pawns, minor pieces towards the center, castle …”. The first time at our chess club is an intense experience!

 

Discovery Bay Advanced

Having arrived right in time before an enormous rainfall all players were bringing thunder in on the boards.

In group A, Koji, Richard, Miguel Angel and David played a double blitz (first round 5 minutes, second 10 minutes) and it was somehow David who won all games …

The double blitz (10 minutes) in group B with Bryant, Wilson, Chor Wei and Mei Jing turned into a win of the tournament for Bryant this time who only had to concede a loss against Mei Jing.

 

Kennedy Town

The group is growing steadily and we are glad to see some regulars coming back as well as new players visiting the club for a try on Sundays. Aditya had a good match with Regis (1-2) and the youngest players Hannah and Ritvik played the longest game of the day (1.5 hours!). Matthew L showed his talent to solve chess puzzles as did the two new visitors Matthew C and Adiya. There is lot of potential in this group.

The afternoon ended with a nice simul given by Miguel Angel which due to time constraints could not be finished. If players here take 1.5 hours to play one game we must soon think of extending the opening hours!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Next week, 8 September, no chess in Kennedy Town due to unavailable room. Locations for remainder of September as follows:

  • 15 September: 11F Room 7
  • 22 September: 2F Room 3
  • 29 September: 2F Room 4

Good Warming up before the competition starts in September

August 26th, 2013

Discovery Bay Intermediate

Compared to last week this Thursday evening we had more players, gradually returned from holidays, coming back and join. It was a good time to give James his trophy he earned as number 2 in the Beginners group last season.

 

James, now in the Intermediate Group, back from vacation, receiving his 2nd Prize from last season's Beginners Group

James, now in the Intermediate Group, back from vacation, receiving his 2nd Prize from last season’s Beginners Group

 

The step 2 assignment we started with seemed to work like a good reminder of checkmates, stalemates, double attacks and the practice games that followed between Jay, Franz, Ian, Sophie, James, Saga, Suneh and a handful of guest players and first time visitors showed this group is ready to start competition play in September!

 

Discovery Bay Beginner

Very glad to see Kaya, Kian, Gauri, Christopher, Roshan, Wo Hang, Alex turning up again on Saturday at 1.30pm and a special welcome to our new members Jaewon, Maximilien, Kevin,  and Joshua. These boys on their first appearance were impressive. When the competition starts in September we will definitely see some good play in this group.

 

Discovery Bay Advanced

We had 8 players in the advanced group and divided into a group A and group B we played a double 10mins blitz mini-tournament.

In group B (Wilson, Bryant, Chor Wei and Max) Bryant had 3 points out of 3 games in the first part and seemed to be cruising towards a win. The second part, against the same players with reversed colors, Wilson managed to beat Bryant and both players ended with 5 out of 6 points and in a 5 mins blitz Wilson emerged as victor when Bryant’s time was up despite a better position on the board. It must be noted that Chor Wei played some very good games and gave a way some winning positions mostly because of the clock – but Chor Wei is on the right track!

 

Bryant against Wilson - what was the influence of Wilson's outfit?

Bryant against Wilson – what was the influence of Wilson’s outfit on the outcome…?

 

In Group A (Koji, Miguel Angel, Gerent and Richard) it was Miguel Angel who had defeated everyone after part 1, followed by Koji with 1.5 points. In part 2, again with reversed colors, it was Richard who crawled back convincingly. Both with 4 points,  Richard and Miguel Angel had to play a 5mins blitz in which Miguel Angel got a piece behind early on in the game which was won by Richard through good technique. Koji ended with 3.5 points 3rd and Gerent, truly with bad luck in several games, played much better chess than his 0.5 points would suggest.

 

Gerent looks at the decisive game between Richard with white against Miguel Angel

Gerent looks at the decisive game between Richard with white against Miguel Angel

 

Kennedy Town

At the second gathering in Kennedy Town we had 5 new players visiting, all of different abilities and it was a fun afternoon playing some chess, doing puzzles and analyzing games.

 

Matthew, Hannah opposite Ritvik doing puzzles in the foreground while Andrew and Miguel Angel play blitz in the background

Matthew and Hannah opposite Ritvik doing puzzles in the foreground while Andrew and Miguel Angel play blitz in the background

 

Season 2013/14 started! Week 1 Update

August 20th, 2013

The week of 12 August was the start of  the club’s season 2013-14. We will use the month of August to slowly settle in. The competition will start from September.

Discovery Bay Intermediate – Thursday 15 August

In the Intermediate group we had a slow start with several players still on holiday or having some school commitments. A short mini-tournament was played and some generic instruction was given. From next week we will work through Step 2 Workbook. Thursday 22 August we will warm up with the Mix Test A on page 3 of Step 2.

Discovery Bay Beginners – Saturday 17 August

We were glad to welcome two new members, Alex and Wo Hang. Also here several players were still on holiday or had other engagements and we mostly spent time going through the rules and basic chess principles and some casual play. Next week we will go through basic check mates with Rook.

Discovery Bay Advanced – Saturday 17 August

Except for the boys coming from outside Discovery Bay almost all players were there and we welcome in this group Richard and Koji as new members. With 8 people around an interesting short 1o mins blitz casual tournament was held in which Richard claimed 5 points, followed by Koji, Miguel Angel, Max and Bryant all on second place with 3 points each. Despite having less than 3 points Mei Jing, Wilson and Chor Wei showed some very decent chess and this is just a warming up! Next week we will do Step 3 Mix Test B on page 3.

 

New members Koji (with white against Bryant) and Richard (background)

New members Koji (with white against Bryant) and Richard (background)

 

Kennedy Town – Sunday 18 August

It was the first time Caissa held a meeting at the KT Community Center – for almost all people it was a bit of a challenge to find the location. However, good to see a handful new faces or players familiar from previous tournaments joining as a trial and we are very glad to welcome Ritvik as our first official new member!

In Kennedy Town we will first settle in through casual play and some tailored coaching before we can divide the group formally in different levels.