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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

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

 

Caissa HK Spring YGP Cross Table End Ranking after Round 7

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

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 vs. Harsh, the last game ...

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

Ranking after 6 rounds YGP 3 Caissa

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

Cross Table Rank after Round 5

 

Below the pairing of round 5:

Pairing Round 5 Caissa Hong Kong YGP 3

 

 

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

Pairing Round 3

Pairing Round 3

Pairing Round 3

Spring Open and YGP3 Round 2 Results

April 29th, 2015

Last Friday Alberto played with white against Matthew but got entangled enough to lose in what turned out to be Matthew’s pet French line. Long with white beat Koji and David with white got the initiative against Conrad’s pawn sacrificing Budapest gambit when Conrad did not punish David’s dubious early a3 pawn move.

There will be no chess this coming Friday 1 May and the pairing will be done the Wednesday before the next game.

Caissa Spring Open 2015 Cross-Table after Round 2

Caissa Spring Open 2015 Cross-Table after Round 2

In the YGP 2nd round last Sunday, the clash of the titans between Miguel Angel and James Wing Ki ended in a win for James who simply got too much activity from his two pieces against Miguel’s rook.

Another noteworthy game was between Oliver and Anika – a rook (Oliver) against 2 bishop end game which lasted well over 3 hours to end in a draw. A record for our club!

In the below cross-table you can find all other results.

Also note here, there will be no round 3, as per schedule, on Sunday 3 May and pairing will be done on Wednesday before the Sunday match.

 

Caissa YGP 3 Spring 2015 Cross-Table after R2

Caissa YGP 3 Spring 2015 Cross-Table after R2

 

Excitement and Drama in Round 6 of YGP 2 – Anything can happen in next round

March 4th, 2015

Unfortunately Ulysses could not make it today (resulting in an automatic win for Andy) but apart from that we had action on all other boards in round 6.

 

The Start of Caissa YGP Round 6

The Start of Caissa YGP Round 6 – Time to wake up Anika!

 

This was a round with highs and dramatic lows. To start with, on board 1 Teddy could have freed himself up to pole position for round 7 by beating James. His ferocious attack led to win of a piece and just-not-check-mate. However, possibly Teddy forgot that he was a piece up when he accepted James’ draw offer when his immediate check mate didn’t work.

On table 2 even more drama. Given the above, by winning from Ronald, Richard could have pushed himself up to first place instead of Teddy. But at the end of a long pawn endgame battle Richie let his completely winning position of King + Queen against Ronald’s King + pawn end in a draw. Tension and pressure must be high in this event as we all know Richard’s qualities to be way above this to happen – and similar things were to happen on other boards too…

 

Ronald (white) vs. Richard and Miguel Angel (white) vs. Harsh in the background

Ronald (white) vs. Richard and Miguel Angel (white) vs. Harsh in the background

 

These results were definitely useful to Miguel Angel who beat Harsh by timing his king-side attack well enough to gain some pawns for free. It was also calmer and more straightforward to winning routes on the boards where Marco beat Toby and Mei Jing beat Harold after both Toby and Harold had made some early mistakes.

Samuel came with lots of advantage out of the opening with white against Anika but the excitement of having a good position could work against you if you lose patience and that is what might explain why Samuel lost the game.

 

Samuel against Anika on the foreground, followed by Seteven against Pak, mei Jing against Harold and Marco against Toby

Samuel against Anika on the foreground, followed by Steven against Pak, Mei Jing against Harold and Marco against Toby

 

Finally, the most impressive game seen in a while on any chess board was between Steven and Pak. Steven had developed his white pieces in such a harmonious way that when he lost his queen through a knight double attack check, he managed to create immediate counterplay. Allowing pins, creating new ones, trading few pieces in the way of several checks he wanted to give with his combined bishops, Steven suddenly had pushed the black king back to the middle of the board where it was checkmated by a combination of 3 minor pieces and a rook. Pak probably could have done something about it 10 moves earlier, e.g., by sacrificing something back, but the last 5 moves were already part of a forced win.

As can be seen from below ranking tables in the coming last round, anything can happen.

Cross Table Ranking after Round 6

Cross Table Ranking after Round 6

Ranking after Round 6

Ranking after Round 6

Pairing Round 7

Pairing Round 7

Teddy and and James share first place in YGP2 … and meet next Sunday

February 25th, 2015

With Miguel Angel drawing against Richard in round 5 Teddy has emerged on the top position again after his win against Ronald in that same round, sharing 1st place with James who won against Marco. The game to watch in round 6 will be James against Teddy!

Teddy with white against Ronald

Teddy with white against Ronald breaking through the center

 

Below the ranking after round 5 and the pairing for round 6:

Cross Table Ranking after Round 5

Cross Table Ranking after Round 5

Pairing Round 6

 

 

Miguel Angel Leads YGP 2 flanked by four other players with equal points

February 3rd, 2015

After the 4th round there are five players, each with 3 points, topping the ranking.

On board 1 we had a lengthy but noteworthy battle of the titans of U12, James, and U10, Miguel Angel. Both players lead their age group in Grand Prix points and the game was daring and adventurous from both sides. In the beginning of the endgame Miguel Angel with white managed to force his queen towards close range from the black king and after some necessary exchanges to ease the pressure in front of the black king, Miguel Angel ended in a rook-bishop vs rook-bishop end game one pawn up. With only few minutes left on the clock Miguel Angel accepted the 3-fold repetition by James’ rook checks.

A great game worthy a replay:

 

On board 2, the U12 boys Ronald and Oliver drew in a game that looked very good for Oliver for a long time, but the pawn up advantage in the end was not enough for Oliver to win.

On board 3, Andy and Teddy had an important game for the U10 grand prix points. Teddy with black had put a lot of pressure on white, winning 2 pawns and later returning them for a superior king pawns endgame which was won very well.

Ulysses with white found Richard blocking his way to get a 3rd win in a row and through this win Richard is back in the top 5.

Marco played concentrated and well against Anika as did Harsh against Mei Jing. Despite their resilience it turned out not to be a good day for the girls.

Harold with white benefited from an error Samuel made early in the game and Toby unfortunately had to wait an hour and got a free point because of Steven’s no show.

 

Harold playing chess against Toby and Ulysses after finishing their games (Toby waiting for his opponent)

Harold playing chess against Toby and Ulysses after finishing their games (Toby waiting for his opponent)

 

YGP2 Cross Table after R4

YGP2 Cross Table after Round 4

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

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

Pairing Round 4 Open Winter 2015

No player with hundred percent score after round 3 YGP2

January 26th, 2015

The results of the YGP1, in which all players over just 7 rounds had had to concede at least 1.5 point loss, remind us of the width of the player strength in this event. Also in YGP 2, there will be no walk-over with some of Hong Kong’s finest youth players competing here. Already after only round 3 there are no players with a hundred percent score.

 

Steven, enjoing his checkmate composition, had a BYE due to odd number of players today.

Steven, enjoying his checkmate composition, had a BYE due to odd number of players today.

 

On the top boards James, the YGP leader in U12, and Ronald played a cautious game, keeping pawns on the board and maneuvering their pieces behind their own lines which resulted after 2.5 hours in a draw.

 

James with white against Ronald

Board 1: James with white against Ronald

Teddy with white against Miguel Angel

Board 2: Teddy with white against Miguel Angel close to the critical moment of trades on d6

 

On board 2, Teddy, who was leading the pack after round 2 and who is 2nd place in YGP ranking U10, played aggressively with white against Miguel Angel, the YGP leader in U10. When teddy could play 16. Rxd6 he took on 16. cxd6 and that lonely pawn was enough for Miguel Angel to bite on and get his pieces out on the queen side such that Teddy had to sacrifice a knight with 33. Nxb5 to not get check mated.

 

 

On the other boards Oliver and Marco had a quick draw and Mei Jing could not repeat her excellent result against Richard from YGP1 and gave a away the draw in a completely draw rook endgame.

Toby, in a winning position, started to follow Ulysses speed and unnecessarily lost materials and the game in the end. Andy’s attack came too close to Pak’s king for Pak to avoid a loss and Harsh won the game against Harold  quickly once he got a piece up.

 

Harsh prepared his white pieces for entry into Harold's black territory

Harsh prepares his white pieces for entry into Harold’s black territory

 

The pairing for round 4 will be done Wednesday noon – the final BYE in this tournament to be requested before then.

See below the results and the cross-table ranking after round 3.

Pairing and Results Round 3

Pairing and Results Round 3

Cross-Table and Ranking after Round 3

Cross-Table and Ranking after Round 3