Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Team of 3 wins first choice of Candy

June 7th, 2015

Saturday we played a small team tournament instead of internal competition in DB. The board 1 players in each team played against one another, the board 2 players against each and so for each board.

Prize/Candy Table

The winning team would gain the honor to go first to the candy table to select their preferred candies, the 2nd ranked team would go second and so on.

Despite having 1 player less, team A ended first, team B powered by girls and the brothers Noah and Nathan ended 2nd, team D ended 3rd and team C was 4th.

Team A: 7.5 points

Miguel Angel
Chor Wei
Christopher

Team B: 6.5 points

Mei Jing
Samira
Noah
Nathan

Team C: 4.5 points

Vincent
Suneh
Maximillian
Leonard

Team D: 6 points

Bryant
Jay
Seth
Kian

Team B Mei Jing, Samira, Noah, Nathan against Team C Vincent, Suneh, Max, Leonard

Team A Miguel Angel against team D Bryant

Team A Miguel Angel, Chor Wei, Chris against team D Bryant, Jay, Seth, Kian

Nathan is very pleased having achieved an amazing stalemate against Kian

Nathan (with white) is very pleased having achieved an amazing stalemate against Kian

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 …

Active Kids Tournament – Caissa Pupils bring back home Personal and School Prizes to Discovery Bay

March 17th, 2015

REPORT by Caissa coach IM Matthew Tan

On the 15th of March Active Kids held a chess tournament at the ISF. The tournament consisted of 6 rounds of 50 minutes. I personally, was first of all curious about how our students would perform, but also interested in how things were organized here in Hong Kong. And what an experience it was!

Analysis Corner Caissa with coaches Michel watching and Matthew overlooking Seth and Noah’s analysis – and Pang Bo paying attention

Caissa was represented by no less than 9 players, spread out in all three categories. In the youngest section, Under 6, we had Nathan defending the Caissa honor. Nathan, who has yet to turn 6 and start his lessons, showed no signs of nervousness at his first tournament! After a lucky escape in the first round, he managed to win 3 games in a row and finish on 4 points. This was enough to claim the first prize U5, a trophy almost twice the size of his own head!

Nathan with his well deserved cup with proud coach Michel

Coaches Michel and Matthew standing with Ben where fellow Caissa pupils Mei Jing, Miguel Angel (back) and Ritvik are seated and ready!

With most of our kids playing in the primary section, we were hoping on some successes here as well. Noah had a tournament with ups and downs. Losses were followed by quick wins and after drawing with Seth in the last round he finished with 2.5 points. Seth had a completely different tournament. He started of really well, had to face some of the strongest players of the group which set him back a bit. In the end the 2.5 points we’re quite a decent result.

Ben’s tournament likely felt somewhat disappointing to him. He played really good games, but because of his lack of experience he sometimes couldn’t deliver the killing blow. He ended up at 2 points, but we’re sure he’ll do way better next tournament.

Ritvik and Kevin played more or less the same kind of tournament. Starting off really well, losing against a stronger player, getting back to the topboards again but eventually getting knocked down again. They both finished at a very reasonable 3 points and with a little more luck they can definitely contest for the prizes next time.

The only two left in this section were Miguel Angel and Mei Jing. Both managed to win their first 4(!) games. In the penultimate round they also got good positions, but when the clock arrived (after 30 minutes) they couldn’t control their nerves and eventually lost.

In the final round Miguel Angel drew his game which secured him the first place U10. Mei Jing lost, again after the clock arrived, but was the awarded the best female player prize nevertheless.

Mei Jing best girl Primary

Miguel Angel Best U10

Also because of the strong individual performances, the Discovery College school (Miguel Angel, Mei Jing, Seth and Noah) finished third place in this section.

Discovery College Players with 3rd Prize for the school (left to right): Miguel Angel, Noah, Mei Jing, Seth and Nathan

Finally, in the secondary section we had Richard playing for the top places. A win in the final round would’ve gotten him a shared first place, but despite his loss he ended 4th in the Secondary section.

All in all, as a coach I was really happy with the fighting spirit shown by all of the players. Even after a disappointing game, they would patch themselves up and give even more in the next game. I can only imagine what more there is to come!

(All results here: U6, Primary, Secondary)

Pairing Round 4 of YGP2 and Winter Open

January 28th, 2015

It will be an exciting Sunday ahead of us. On the top 2 boards we have the top 3 players James, Ronald and Miguel Angel as well as the highest ranked U12 of YGP1, Oliver, facing each other.

On board 3 we will see if Ulysses’ quick ascent will continue at cost of top seed Richard and on board 4 it will be a battle of U10 titans between Andy and Teddy.

On the other boards it remains unclear what to expect, except in Pak’s case who got a full point already from BYE due to odd number of players.

Pairing Round 4 YGP2 2015

In the Winter Open, on Friday, on board 1 David will have to prove his worth against James from whom he had narrowly escaped in the Autumn Open giving checkmate with just one second left.

Michel on board 2 meets Long who hasn’t lost a game yet; same on board 3 with Miguel Angel who meets Henry who also has not tasted defeat yet.

On board 4 and 5 both Conrad and Melvin as well as Ray and Koji will surely try to get the full point to stay close to the top position. It could be very much so that like in the Autumn Open 2014 edition things will not be sure until the very last round.

Pairing Round 4 Open Winter 2015

Only Teddy, James and Ronald keep their 100 percent score after round 2 YGP2

January 20th, 2015

All 16 players were present last Sunday for round 2 of the Youth Grand Prix 2. Only James, Ronald and Teddy remain unbeaten with Teddy the new leader of the pack after round 2!

Results Round 2 YGP 2

Crosstable and Ranking after Round 2

Pairing Round 3 YGP2

Round 2 Winter Open – Results

January 18th, 2015

Last Friday fortunately we had no BYE. Melvin, who last week lost because of one second short on the clock played again a good game and this time he was rewarded the full point when he managed to give an x-ray check with his white queen on h8 and black Kf6 and (unprotected) Qd4.

Melvin with white against Koji in Round 2

Conrad Ackerman, the new contender who last week managed to beat Koji in the heat of time pressure chose a very solid approach with white against David. David, a Philidorian and used to manoeuvring his black pieces in little space, rushed an unprotected pawn onto g5 to lure the white pieces, mostly on the 2nd and 3rd rank so far, into black terrain. Conrad accepted the challenge and in addition sacrificed a piece for two pawns to nestle his knight in the 6th rank and started an assault on black’s exposed king. But black held and with little time on the clock David won the game.

Conrad with white while David takes the photo …

Miguel Angel seemed somewhat out of concentration and against James it is best to stay very focussed – soon Miguel Angel was two pawns down, more than enough for James to win the game on auto-pilot.

Ray, similar to Miguel Angel, seemed to lack the focus so necessary to beat an experienced player like Michel. Through a wrong recapture by Ray, Michel’s white pieces could easily go for a brutal checkmate approach towards the black king and claim the win.

Henry and Long had the longest game. Henry had to defend tediously with white against Long’s black dominance the entire game. But when it got to the end of the 180 minutes of the match, there was not enough material on the board anymore to create a checkmate and the game ended in a draw.

Henry against Long (undistractible!) in Round 2

Results Round 2 Winter Open Cassia

Ranking Caissa Open Winter 2015 after Round 2

Pairing for round 3 will be done Wednesday noon.

Winter Youth Grand Prix (YPG2) Round 1 Results

January 14th, 2015

Sunday 11 January the second cycle of standard chess (90 minutes for each player) took off with again some of Hong Kong’s best youth players competing for trophy prizes and grand prix points for sponsored overseas tournment participation. The current ranking in the YGP can be found in this entry.

On board 1, two prize winners of the preceeding YGP1, James and Andy had a tense game which in the end, pressurising the position, James managed to turn into a win.

Harold against … who?

Harold against Marco!

On board 2 Harold lost a piece somewhere down the line in the middle game and Marco had no problem converting the material advantage into a win.

On board 3 we had again 2 prize winners of the preceding YGP, Oliver and Miguel Angel, playing against each other. The game resulted in a draw when Miguel Angel did not see a way through after having closed down the position with his powerful black pawns on a5, b4 and c3.

On board 4 Pak lost a piece against Richard who remained cool enough to stop Pak from getting enough counter play with his advanced a-pawn.

Pak with white against Richard

On board 6 Ronald managed to win material from Samuel early in the game and converted this into a straightforward win and on board 7 Toby’s black queen had entered on b2 to create some havoc but found no way out when Teddy trapped it there and therewith secured the win.

Teddy with White against Toby

We had an odd number of players and Mei Jing was (very voluntarily) paired against the BYE.

There were no requests for a BYE for coming Sunday before today, Wednesday 12 noon, and the pairing for round 2 is a per below.

YGP Pairing Round 2

GM Raymond Keene OBE Visits Caissa for Speech on Sochi and a Simul

November 20th, 2014

We have had the honor of some of the world’s chess best visiting our club already a couple of times. Women World Champion GM Hou Yifan held a simul earlier this year. Both Junior World Champion GM Alexander Ipatov and trainer GM Efstratios Grivas, Secretary of the FIDE Trainers Commission, visited us for simul and lectures as well. Another top trainer, GM Dimitri Komarov, visited us casually but unfortunately due to the visit of a Super Typhoon, there were very few left to meet him.

This time, on December 7, after our Blitz Tournament (you can still enrol!), GM Raymond Keene will be visiting us in Sheung Wan for a short speech on his view of the 2014 World Championship Match in Sochi between Anand and Carlsen – after which he will give a simul too.

Raymond Keene Visit Caissa on 7 December 2014

GM Keene is a veteran in the chess world with an enormous track record.

As a player he was British Champion and European Gold Medalist and he represented his country in the Olympiads several years. Among his personal bests in chess displays, challenging multiple opponents at the same time, are the 107 simultaneous opponents at Oxford in 1973 where he won 101, drew 5 and lost one, and Leon, Mexico, 2013, defeating 17 opponents simultaneously without sight of the boards or pieces! Note that GM Keen is one of the co-founders of the World Memory Sports Council (HK Local branch is here: http://hongkongmemorysportscouncil.com/).

As an organizer he was involved in various world chess championships and as an author he has (co-)written many chess articles and over a hundred of chess books.

GM Keene will hand out the prizes of our Blitz tournament on 7 December and he will also hand out the prizes to the YGP1 prize winners.

Miguel Angel Leads DB Competition

October 29th, 2014

Last Saturday, in the Step 3 & 4 morning class, after the dozen or so tactic puzzles, we experimented with a fun way to play chess, well, kind of chess. Using all chess rules, in 4 player chess opponents play against each other on the same board, like it was arguably played in a very original version of chess far back in time in India.

Machiavelli, von Clausewitz, Sun Tsu and the likes would have smiled seeing the players were quick to understand the importance of diplomatic alliances, creating and breaking them many times as the game progressed.

More than forks, pins and double attacks Jay, Chor Wei, Jacob and Lucas soon found out the importance of alliances

In between the two games of competition Nitai, Ian, Ada and Koza tried out their luck, observered by Nathan

The Advanced Group is merged into the Intermediate and Beginners Group to make pairing easier. Each player will of course still only play for the prize in his or her category but chances are for an Intermediate player who scores well to face an Advanced player and if he/she is in form crisis to also play the top Beginners.

Miguel Angel scored an important win in his second game against Koji that pushed him up to first place.

DB Internal ranking 2014-15 October 25

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.