Caissa Hong Kong Chess Club

chess in hong kong

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!

New National Titles for Caissa students: Miguel Angel claims his 2nd in a row!

July 7th, 2015

HKCF 1st National Rapid 2015 held at the very disitinctive Po Kok Primary School

After the very successful participation in the National Blitz last week Saturday, which resulted in 4 National Champion titles for our club (!!!), the official 1st National Rapid (25 minutes per person) held by HKCF last Sunday was equally successful for our Caissa players.

In the U8 category our Caissa kids Nathan, Noah and Mahir gradually warmed up towards the end of the event. Especially Mahir with 3.5 points in only his 2nd tournament impressed a lot in this strongest players field of Hong Kong.

Noah looks with great interest at Nathan’s game and him pressing the clock …

On 2nd place came Allen Pang Bo with very strong 6 points but Bao Jinwen, our U7 world school champion 2015, scored 7 straight wins and became 1st National Rapid Champion U8. Well done boys! Good warming up also for the Dutch Open 3-8 August in which Jinwen will participate in the Caissa team.

Bao Jinwen Hong Kong U8 Rapid Champion 2015

Jinwen Hong Kong U8 Rapid Champion 2015 with Caissa and HKCF President David Garceran Nieuwenburg

2nd Prize for Allen Pang Bo with Principal of Po Kok School

In the U10 age category we had 6 players participating among which the recently crowned National U10 Blitz Champion 2015 Miguel Angel and National Best Blitz Girl Mei Jing…

Starting with Vivaan though, he did not get into his rhythm in this event, tired as he was from a very long activity the previous day – but he stayed bravely until the end. No worries Vivaan, your time of scoring points will come soon!

Mei Jing lost her last game which cost her her second Best Girl title which went to Caissa’s Anika with 4 points. Congratulations Anika!

Anika and Mei Jing – competitors and best chess friends!

Harold, also with 4 points, ended 10th, exactly in the middle of the group and Aaditya with a strong 5.5 points ended 4th and just out of reach of a prize like last week with the Blitz. Don’t forget, 3rd time lucky, Aaditya.

But it was Caissa’s Champion in U10, Miguel Angel, who played a magnificent tournament and won the tournament, on tie-break against Cai Yang, a strong player from China, and his second title in row. Well done Miguel, you are among a select group grossing National titles like this!

Miguel Angel and Cai Yang shaking hands before their game

Anika Best Girl U10 HKCF 1st National Rapid 2015

Miguel Angel Champion U10 HKCF 1st National Rapid 2015

Miguel Angel National Champion U10 HKCF 1st National Rapid 2015

Miguel Angel, Mei Jing and Harold will also join the Dutch Open 3-8 August. Exciting!

In U12 age category we had 5 Caissa kids participating. Charles and Hilary, with 2 and 3 points respectively, can look back positively at their result among the strongest of Hong Kong. This was only their second tournament, their first being a year ago, and in this group tournament practice is really an advantage.

Oliver with 4 points and last week’s National Blitz Champion Richard with 4.5 points ended 6th and 4th respectively. Very good results.

Richard ready for the last round against Kannammai

But this time James, who had to miss last week’s Blitz, was the best player in this age group and was deservedly crowned National Rapid Champion with 6.5 points. Bravo Champ!

HKCF 1st National Rapid Champion U12 James Kwong

With Richard and James also joining the Dutch Open 3-8 August there is going to be firework on the boards in all age categories in unsuspecting Holland! Ssssssst.

In the U14, U16 and U18 we had no Caissa players but we had the usual suspects in the Open section.

Tejpal warned up well towards the end and ended with 3 points. James with 3.5 points ended 14th. Koji scored 4 points ending 12th and David, who started strong, until the after lunch dip, ended 9th also with 4 points. No prizes, but we had great fun.

Koji watching James’ and David’s games

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

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

Autumn Youth Grand Prix Fully Open Again after draw between James and Miguel Angel

October 14th, 2014

Last Sunday on board 1 the only two undefeated players, James Wing Ki and Miguel Angel were facing off to stay on top. James opened d4 against Miguel Angel who choose and Old Indian set-up in the same spirit of playing his Philidor weapon against e4. After 28 moves the game was agreed to be a draw but it is somehow unfortunate that young players agree on draws when the board is still full of adventures to explore.

James, Wing Ki with white vs Miguel Angel

On board 2 Ronald and Andy played the longest game of the evening, won by Ronald. On board 3 Benjamin won against Marco in a game that was simply played too fast as was what happened on board 4 with Oliver winning against Ray.

Ronald faces Andy's Sicilian (foreground)

Ronald Choy

On board 5 Rachel beat Sabrina and on board 6 we had a thriller between Richard and Teddy in a rook vs. bishop end game – after Ronald vs. Andy, the longest game. Although technically it should have been a draw, under various kinds of pressure, like Teddy having to return to Shenzhen, Teddy made a mistake and Richard scored an important point.

Teddy vs. Richard aka Bishop vs. Rook endgame

Wing Shun Harold played more concentrated and motivated than Mei Jing which translated into a deserved win for Harold. Steven, despite being some material down in the beginning against Samach, managed to win a queen by double attack and thus won his game as did Toby against Samuel early in the evening.

With 4 players with 4 points all playing against each other next week we will have a great Sunday to look forward to – anything can happen!

Ranking after 5 Rounds and Pairing Round 6

Hong Kong Juniors Championship 2013

November 11th, 2013

On Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 November the Kowloon Technical School turned into a venue for 150 players to compete for the title of Hong Kong Junior Champion 2013 in their respective age categories of U7 through U18. Our Caissa youth participated in the U7 and U10 age categories.

Under 7

Players U7 started on Sunday afternoon to work through 7 rounds of 10 minutes per person blitz games. Mei Jing Garceran Wang was Caissa’s only representative and hope in this age group and she started off very well with 4 straight wins.

In the 5th round her ferocious attack with black was leaving too many weak squares in her own defense; enough for Aaditya Kadam to win material such that Mei Jing, having to think too long, lost on time.

In round 6, a piece up against Harold Kwong, Harold still found a way to achieve perpetual check. An unlucky draw for Mei Jing, however, in round 7 against Tommy Yau, Mei Jing crawled through the eye of the needle managing to checkmate her oponnent in a very bad position.

Give and take, the end result of the top 5 did justice to all players who remained very close. Mei Jing ended 4th and was again the best girl of Hong Kong in U7. Well done!

Final Ranking U7 HK Juniors 2013

Mei Jing and Harold in Round 6

Prize Winners U7

Under 10

Caissa’s 5 players Richard Takasumi, Chor Wei Tang, Gerent Lee, Samira Salwan (all Discovery Bay Club) and Ray Sze (Sheung Wan Club) competed in the largest group of 78 players. Miguel Angel Garceran Wang, being sick, had to stay home and could not participate.

Ray, playing for the first time in this age group, scored 2.5 points ending on 59th place. Samira, who unfortunately missed the first game, still scored 4 points to climb up to 28th position in the end. Gerent, also playing in this age group for the first time, scored 4 points like Samira and ended 20st.

Samira with white stays calm with the black queen on her back rank

Chor Wei played his best national championship tournament so far scoring 5 points to end with the same amount of points as number 6, Ronald Choy, but on tie-break finally ranked 15th. Good progress!

Richard, who ended number 2 last year scored 6 points to end shared 2nd with James Kwong (last year’s champion) but on tie-break finally ended 3rd. Very impressive of these boys to continuously stay at the top – but this year’s champion was a 7 wins scoring girls, Chingchi Wong, from Shenzhen. Congratulations to you all.

Prize Winners U10

Final Ranking U10 (top 34 places)

Finally a quick congratulation to all prize winners in the other groups. In U13, especially for an impressive champion Benjamin Oh with 7 out of 7, and for last year’s U13 champion, and new champion in U18, Michael Yang, with 6.5 points.

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

Rapid Tournament Concludes Caissa 1st Year Anniversary Festival

July 14th, 2013

After Alexander Ipatov’s visit in June and Collin Madhavan’s full-house clinics in July, Caissa Chess Club Hong Kong wrapped up her first year anniversary chess festivities with a concluding Summer Rapid tournament yesterday.

The event attracted international players as well as local Hong Kong players, young and old, experienced and starters. For all 24 youth players from Hong Kong the event was FIDE CiS rated (a first-timer in Hong Kong!) and, also with FIDE Arbiter Collin Madhavan strengthening the organization, the tournament went as smooth as we could hope for with such a unique diverse group.

FA Collin Madhavan quickly going through the rFIDE ules of Rapid

FA Collin Madhavan quickly going through the FIDE Rules of Rapid

Delegatin from Shenzhen with 5 youth players

Delegation from Shenzhen with 5 youth players

Left to right: Eugene, Umberto and Stuart from Shenzhen with their chess buddies Billy and Cyril.

In the Open Group Hong Kong’s Andrew (8 points) stayed closest to the winner Eugene (UKR) (8.5 points) who had come in from Shenzhen with his two friends Stuart and Umberto.

The third place was taken by Caissa’s own Hannah (6.5 points) who could definitely claim the most exciting win of the tournament with a checkmate with only 1 second on the clock. Well done Hannah!

1 minute on the clock - Hannah wins with white ...

1 second on the clock – Hannah wins with white …

Prize Winners Open Group in between David and Bee Shan: Hannah, Eugene, and Andrew

Prize Winners Open Group standing in between Organizers David and Bee Shan: Hannah, Eugene, and Andrew

In the P4-P6 youth group we saw some powerful play from Shenzhen youth. Both Jiatong and Xingzhe scored an impressive 6 points which resulted in their respective 1st and 2nd places. Third place was claimed by Hong Kong’s James Kwong with 5.5 points.

Players in Action

Prize Winners P4-P6 category: (left to right) James, Xinzhe and Jiatong together with David and Mr. Liu and Ms. Li who accompanied the Shenzhen youth.

Prize Winners P4-P6 category: (left to right) James, Jiatong and Xingzhe together with Mr. Liu and Ms. Li who accompanied the Shenzhen youth.

In the P1-P3 category our 3 local Hong Kong boys claimed all prizes with Caissa’s Gerent (5 points) and Caissa’s Miguel Angel (4.5 points) getting 1st and 3rd prize respectively and Harold (5 points) receiving second prize.

David and Collin behind (left to right) Gerent, Harold and Miguel Angel.

David and Collin behind (left to right) Champion Gerent, Harold and Miguel Angel.

The tournament, as official end-of-season celebration, was also the stage to put Caissa’s top performing members in the well deserved spotlight.

In the Intermediate Group the 1st Prize was won by Bryant and the 2nd Prize by Max. Both are promoted to the Advanced Group. In the Beginners Group Saga won 1st Prize. James, who won 2nd Prize was abroad and will receive his trophy at opening of the 13-14 season.

Bryant (left) and Max (right) receive 1st and 2nd Prize respectively

Saga receives her Champion of Beginners Group Prize

Finally, the 5 prizes (a digital DGT chess clock, a chess board with pieces and several chess books) of the trivia questions showed Aravind was the most knowledgeable being the only participant to get a 100% score.

Eugene, champion of the tournament, forfeited his prize in favor of giving a youth player the chance to get a prize. Eugene, congratulations: you were the undisputed Champion today.

All results and ranking can be found here: cross table caissa summer rapid 13 july 2013.

Photos are posted on Around DB Magazine.

World Youth Chess Championship 2012 in Maribor Ends

November 19th, 2012

After a tiring 11 rounds of chess at the highest level, the Youth World Chess Championship in Maribor, Slovenia, has ended. Hong Kong’s delegate in the Under 8 age category, James Kwong Wing Ki, started the tournament very strong, as reported earlier, with 3 points out of 4 games.

In round 5 and 6, which were played on one day, James lost both games, albeit from opponents with FIDE ratings as high as 1632 and 1565 from Romania and England respectively.

Mostly, when you have a FIDE rating, it means you have played a lot of games and in Hong Kong it is unfortunately for youth (and adults alike for that matter) virtually impossible to gain a rating in the absence of enough tournaments. In an event like a World Championship, a decisive factor is exactly experience, i.e., having played enough games.

James recovered well by winning in round 7 against another FIDE rated player (1520) from the USA but it was around then that James started to have to struggle with illness and fever and consequently rounds 8 and 9 were lost.

In round 10 and 11, somewhat fever free, James scored two draws, including a draw against a 1579 FIDE rated player from Cyprus – ending the chess adventure with 5 points out of 11 games.

James' Last Game against Russian Grigorii ter-Saakian (Result: Draw)

Here at Caissa and in Hong Kong we are proud of James! With games well over 2 hours and sometimes 3 hours, James broke his own, and probably also the reader’s record, of having played over 24 hours of demanding chess in some 10 days.

See you soon back in Hong Kong!

World Youth Chess Championship in Maribor, Slovenia

November 12th, 2012

After 4 rounds, Hong Kong’s delegate to the Youth World Championship U8, James Kwong Wing Ki, is showing strong performance: with 3 points out of 4 games James is number 20 out of 136. Today rounds 5 and 6 will be played.

Daily updates are on the WYCC site.

After 4 rounds James is in the top 20 of the World Youth Chess Championship U8 IN an interview

From Hong Kong we tried to interview James and his supporting family for an interim update.

Question 1: How does James feel?

James feels very excited to have this invaluable opportunity to play with those strongest chess player from the world in his age category. In addition, he also has good moments playing with those players from England And Scotland who stay in the same place, Hotel Arena, a 5 minutes walk from the 2 tournament venues, Hotel Habakuk (where U8 play) and Hotel Dras (for the rest of the age categories).

Question 2: How is the environment?

The environment in Maribor is excellent. Here is a photo taken in the city with 2 female arbiters there. Lovely weather and not too cold. People are very nice too.

James in Maribor with Two Lady Arbiters

Question 3: excited that Kasparov will visit?

James is of course very excited about the coming of Kasprov. We heard that he will be here for 3 days. Hope we will have the opportunity to take a photo with him or even chat with him.

Question 4: Were you preparations in Hong Kong useful or is it all different here at the top?

We think the preparation was to provide a solid base for James as far as possible. I hope this trip is a chess learning journey for James which will open his eyes to the chess world.

Question 5: We wish you good luck in the second half of the tournament. Any message for your friends at home?

We hope that we could share this wonderful experience and hi Miguel, hope you will be the next one to go.