Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

Quarry Bay School all-ESF Primary School Tournament 20 September

September 1st, 2015

Caissa Chess training at Discovery College and in Discovery Bay has gotten into full swing in September. And not a bit too early!

The QBS Junior Star Tournament is the first event of the year and we highly recommend all ESF Primary students to join.

Our Discovery College Caissa students have been very successful in the previous editions with and Under Primary Champion in 2012, Upper Primary Champion and Lower Primary Champion and 2nd Place in 2013 and Champion Lower Primary in 2014.

Enroll online here.

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

Ritvik, Ben and Samuel Successful in AK Novice Tournament

April 13th, 2015

We congratulate our students who played in last Sunday’s Active Kids Novice tournament.

Wendy in the 11+ age category scored 3 points and ended 6th; however, places 2-4 were not that far with 4 points and Wendy would have gotten 2nd prize if she would have won her last game. Next time Wendy!

In the 9-10 age category Samuel played a very good tournament. He stayed calm, even under high pressure of the last decisive game, which he had to win to receive a prize. And he did. Towards an end game with both sides promoting pawns Samuel kept his cool which resulted in 3rd prize – his first silverware. Well done Samuel!

AK Novice Tournament 9-10 years End Ranking

AK Novice Tournament 9-10 Age Category

Samuel poses with IM Marcos Llaneza

In the age category 7-8 years Andrew ended 6th place, like his sister Wendy in 11+, and with 3.5 points he was very, very close to a prize too.

However, the spotlight of this age category went this time fully to Caissa’s young and upcoming talents. Ben, who had the previous day already won a prize in Caissa’s Open spring blitz, was hungry enough to again collect a prize and ended 2nd with 4.5 points.

Ritvik, always in for a few jokes, is quickly growing into a solid, calm and serious player when behind the board, and that reflected in the excellent result of 5 points and the Champion Prize to remember this great achievement for many years to come.

Well done to our boys who won the prizes but also to our students who didn’t – yet! Keep on training and playing and your time will surely come.

AK Novice Tournament 7-8 Age Category

Ritvik and Samuel – deservedly proud and happy!

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)

YGP2 Cross Table after Round 4

IM Marcos Llaneza wins 4th Discovery Bay Rapid Open

December 1st, 2014

Caissa 4th Discovery Bay Open Rapid

Show me the whole photo album first before I start reading!

The 4th edition of Caissa’s Discovery Bay Open Rapid last Saturday went smooth. We were glad to again have guests coming over from Shenzhen and we were also happy to see some of Hong Kong’s highest rated players, including ‘local chess celebrity’ Daniel Lam and International Master Marcos Llaneza from Spain, join us in our cozy corner of Hong Kong.

Thanks Rapid Moms for bringing in your children from far away in Hong Kong and as far as Shenzhen.

We also look back with modest pride to our very own Caissa members, especially our youth players, who definitely made a strong impact and grossed 8 out of the 11 prizes available!

As always in our Open events, players of all age categories were mixed and played against one another, young against more experienced. Youth players, however, played for prizes in their respective age categories of U8 (2007 or earlier), U10 (2005/6) and U12 (2003/4).

Young against experienced …

In the U8 category Noah (1.5 points) and Kian and Ritvik (both 2 points – note that Ritvik had missed the first 3 rounds) got used after several rounds to the nerves of tournament play and as they began to play slower they started collecting points.

Ritvik U10 playing against Samuel U12

Kian in action

Result corner – the most important place in the venue … Seth making sure he is still on top!

It was however our guest player from Shenzen, Jin Hao, also with 2 points, who won 2nd prize ahead of Kian and Ritvik on tie-break. Yet, with 3 points, the Champion of U8 was Caissa’s young talent Seth. Well done!

Seth and Jin Hao

In the U10 category we had a mix of very experienced players as well as some with very little or no tournament experience at all.

Pak's little sister checkmates in 1 move!

Pak’s little sister, supporter today, checkmates in 1 move … we’ll be hearing more from her!

Kevin was among the first-timers and his 1.5 points is not a bad result at all in this strong field, including adults. Yat Hei, Samuel and Pak all scored 3 points but the 4th prize went to Harold with 3.5 points. Mei Jing defended the honour of all girls in and around DB well by scoring 4 points, ending 12th overall and 3rd in the U10 group.

Happy Mei Jing

Miguel Angel, who was leading this age category until the last round, found Daniel in round 7 to be an obstacle too strong and by losing Miguel Angel ended 7th place overall and 2nd place in U10 with 4.5 points. Teddy did good business in the last round by defeating soon-to-be DB resident Matthew and with 5 points he ended 6th overall and became Champion of this age group.

U10 prize winners: Migueal Angel, Mei Jing, Harold and Teddy

U10 prize winners: Miguel Angel, Mei Jing, Harold and Teddy

The U12 age group also comprised of some very experienced as well as very new players. Samira scored 2 points and Jay with 3 points ended 4th in this age group. James Kwong with 5 points managed to end 3rd overall and as such he was entitled to get 3rd prize in the Open group. Herewith Toby, with 4 points could collect 1st prize in the U12 group and Richard, also with 4 points, collected 2nd prize.

U12 Prize Winners Toby and Richard

In the Open group then, 3rd prize went to James Kwong, 2nd prize to Daniel with 6 points, only having conceded a loss against the new DB Open Rapid Champion IM Marcos who scored 7 out of 7.

New kid in town, Matthew, started off well with 4 out of 4

Marco vs. Daniel and Billy vs. Long in the back

Marcos vs. Daniel and Billy vs. Long in the back

Open Prize Winners Daniel, James and Marcos

Final Ranking

For youth players this event qualified for the Grand Prix with a pool of 18 points into U12 and 48 points in U10. The points were distributed as per below table with new ranking.

YGP Score and Ranking per 29 Nov 2014

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

Youth Grand Prix 1 Autumn – Thundering Start

September 1st, 2014

A thunderstorm embracing the afternoon in which we kicked off the Youth Grand Prix 1 heralded what was to happen on the boards that evening. Of 19 participants, and as such a pool of 95 points to be distributed over the top 5 players at the end of this YGP1, 18 players rumbled their chess pieces around in search for chess glory.

We were honored that Mr. Jackson Li, President of the Hong Kong Chess Federation, paid us a visit and at the opening of the tournament spoke encouraging words to the youth players to do their best and enjoy their games. And that is what happened.

HKCF President Mr. Jackson Li talking to the players at the opening

HKCF President Mr. Jackson Li addressing the players at the opening

On board 1 Caissa member Richard played a solid game against Andy Au but with a pawn or two up he missed Andy’s sacrifice tactic which led to a checkmate.

Ronald and Benjamin faced each other in a tough game where Benjamin was able to push his black pieces far enough up to pressure a win.

Ronald with white against Benjamin coming closer with his black pieces

Ronald with white against Benjamin coming closer with his centralized queen

Caissa members Sabrina and Louis had a short game as Sabrina could translate her years long exprience onto the board against talented but just recently started Louis.

Steven and Marco had an equal position until the end of the middle game when Steven managed to checkmate Marco’s black castled king with his queen on h7 when Marco in an attacking move of his own seemed to had forgotten the white knight on g5 supporting the white queen going to h7.

Caissa members Mei Jing and Teddy went into a double rook end game with lots of pawns but as it was Teddy who managed to put his rooks on the second rank first there was no stopping him trapping Mei Jing’s white king on the back rank while taking enough pawns to force a win.

Caissa members Miguel Angel and Thomas faced each other in an equal game until Thomas lost his queen. Thomas, also among the least experienced in this field, will surely grow into the tournament as we proceed.

Rachel and Caissa member James played the longest and perhaps toughest game of the evening. In an end game with 5 pawns and a few pieces each it was James who maneuvered a little more precise enough to win the game.

Caissa member Toby with black faced an adventurous Oliver who early in the game created some opportunities to breach the black position enough to gain substantial material advantage and finally the game.

Toby thinking about his next move against Oliver

Caissa members Harold and Ray had a somewhat wild game in which Ray’s overwhelming style was just not enough to breach Harold’s black set-up.

Samach got a point through BYE because of an odd number of players. Next week he will play for sure.

Ranking after Round 1

Right when the last player left we had a very nice surprise in the visit of 2500+ FIDE rated GM Dimitri Komarov, currently training players in United Arab Emirates, on a short stop-over in Hong Kong. Dimitri had intended to come earlier but the thunderstorm delayed his arrival and although we were about to close the club, Miguel Angel was lucky (?!) enough to play a short game. Thanks for visiting us Dimitri!

Grand Master Dimitri Komarov in action against Miguel Angel

Traditional CNY Hong Kong – Guangzhou Match on 15 February

January 24th, 2014

On Saturday 15 February 2014 the Guangzhou East Lake Chess Academy (廣州市少年宮廣東東湖棋院) will meet us in Hong Kong for the traditional youth Chinese New Year match (report of last year).

Supported by the Hong Kong Chess Federation the event will be organized and hosted by Caissa at our Sheung Wan chess club.

With a team of 4 players in each age category U8, U10, U12 and U14-16 we will play 4 rounds. Players represent their cities and will not be paired against their own team members.

Starting from 2pm, in all age groups the teams will play a Round Robin: 4 games in rapid format according to FIDE rules with time control of 25 minutes per person for the whole game.

We play for the Champion Cup which goes to the team with most points and in each age category there is also a prize for the winning team and the top scorer. Everybody will also get a medal as a souvenir of the effort put in.

Snacks and drinks will be provided and we welcome our Guangzhou friends warmly. Our stellar line-up is as follows:

The list of achievements is by no means full and complete but gives a good indication about our stars!

The list of achievements is by no means full and complete but gives a good indication about our young stars!

Richard Takasumi wins HKCA Student Challengers U12 and Michael Yang wins HKCF Open

October 29th, 2013

HKCA Student Challenger

Last Saturday and Sunday the Hong Kong Chess Association held the October 2013 edition of their Student Challengers Tournaments in which youth players up until 18 years are mixed in one group but play for prizes in their specific age groups.

Winner U18 and overall winner was Raphael Chang with 7.5 points out of 8 games. Overall numbers 2 and 3 were James Kwong and Ronald Choy who ended numbers 1 and 2 in the U9 age category, both with an impressive 6 points.

In the U12 age group, Ernest Cheung, Benjamin Oh and Caissa’s Richard Takasumi ended with 5.5 points but Richard claimed first prize on tie-break. Congratulations Richard and to all other prize winners!

Richard Takasumi Wins 1st prize U12

See here for full results: HKCA Oct 2013 Tournament_Results

HKCF Hong Kong Open Local

On a dramatic last Monday Andrew Leung, who had been on top position for several weeks, lost his game against Christopher Masters. Because Michael Yang beat Jake Chan, Michael was able to recover his loss from round 4 against Andrew to end first position with 5.5 points, half a point more than Andrew. Congratulations Michael! Also congrats for Andrew, Christopher and Ritesh Mahajan for their top spots.

Luen-Wah Luk, after a “false start” climbed at cost of Lin Wai Kit to 6th position just under Jake Chan. Joe Lau lost his 3rd consecutive game against earlier mentioned Ritesh and as Hysan Wong drew against Pak Tuen Cheung they all ended with 4 points in the top 10.

The number 10 position was for Caissa’s David Garceran Nieuwenburg who after a deep descent in the first few rounds managed to climb up, in the last round against Sang Tsz Tang who in the late middle game had the better position but lost track of the right way forward in the endgame with some time pressure.

Final Cross Table Hong Kong Open 2013

Intermediate Group Moves from Thursday to Saturday in November

October 25th, 2013

With just a handful of players, Jay, Jonathan, Bryant, Wilson, Miguel Angel and Mei Jing, Caissa started its first meeting on Thursday June 7 2011. It is very good to see that all these players are still our core members!

Yet, last Thursday was the end of the Thursday meetings. With the ever very kind cooperation from the North Plaza Community Center BMSE we can now make use of the largest room on Saturdays which allows us to hold the Beginners and Intermediate meetings at the same place and time.

We are sure this will benefit the atmosphere and the opportunities to play more games with more equally skilled players. Our best Beginners can play against some Intermediate players and envision their pipeline of progress.

Speaking of which, both Ian and Rafe keep on marching away from the rest. As they again both won their games they are now both leading with 6 points but Rafe having played one match less. How shall this end …?

James, Rafe and Maximilien (left team) play against Suneh, Ian and Jonathan in the last Transfer Chess match on Thursdays.

James, Rafe and Maximilien (left team) play against Suneh, Ian and Jonathan in the last Transfer Chess match/fun on Thursdays.