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!

Hong Kong Players Very Successful in the Shenzhen Nanao 4 Regions Cross-Strait Tournament

July 30th, 2015

Photo album on Flicker

Hong Kong Delegation

With 8 players and 6 accompanying adults we set out on Sunday 26 to play in the Nanao Cup 2015, an event deep in Shenzhen inviting players from Shenzhen, Macao, Taiwan and Hong Kong to join. While at the venue we found more players from Hong Kong and as such we had a good representation.

Crowded with over 250 Participants …

Briefing … touch move, 3 times illegal is losing and cross your fingers is draw offer …

The event attracted over 250 players (spread out over the age categories U6, U7, U8, U10, U12 and an Open group) who awaited a gruesome 9 rounds of chess in just 3 days.

But the Hong Kong players were up for the task.

In the U6 Group we had Caissa’s upcoming star Mahir, who learned how to play chess just a few months ago, ending 6th place with 5 points – and he received a medal for this result. That is an excellent result as particularly in this age group Chinese youth is comparatively strong.

Mahir warming up in the lobby with new friends from Shenzhen

Mahir and his dad ready for the next round

In the U7 group we had Zig and Thanneermalai play for Hong Kong. When Thanneermalai had gotten used to the magnetic chess boards and small sized pieces on the last day he was unstoppable with 3 straight wins. Together with his earlier 2 wins he collected 5 points to end on 12th place. Well done!

Thanneermalai with pep-talking mom and sister

Zig was our other player in U7 and he played like a bulldozer. With 7 points he ended impressively on the 2nd place and received a nice trophy. Very impressive Zig!

Zig with his brother Ngai and his dad

Zig confident every time before going into action!

We had no players in U8 but in U10 we had our Caissa gunners Miguel Angel and Mei Jing. And they lived up to their reputation.

Because Mei Jing lost her last game she fell down to 15th place but still on 5th place of all girls with 5 points. As such she still got a medal. Good job Mei Jing!

Mei Jing thinking a few moves ahead already against seemingly nervous opponent …

Yes Mei Jing – you still got a prize!

Miguel Angel played a great tournament. He lost once, coming just 1 move short in a pawn end game, and he drew once. The level of his play was very high and with 7.5 points he ended 2nd place! Miguel Angel got a chance to put his new opening to practice in this strong field. Great preparation for the Open Dutch next week. Well done Miguel!

Miguel Angel with Melvin and Matthew – what is that we’re eating? A fish eye ball!

Miguel Angel - Hong Kong's U10 star player: lonely at the top?

Miguel Angel – Hong Kong’s U10 Lone Wolf star player

In the U12 category we had Ngai and Kannamai from Hong Kong. Kannamai scored 3 points and managed to get a 6th prize medal for girls. Good job Kannamai.

Kannamai in deep concentration

Kannammai on the stage - can you spot the proud dad?

Kannamai on the stage – spot the proud dad …

Ngai scored just below 50% and with 4 points ended 19th in this very strong age group. Not bad at all Ngai – this is truly a strong age group.

Mahir, Mei Jing, Miguel, Zig and Ngai with proud Caissa President David Garceran NIeuwenburg

Mahir, Mei Jing, Miguel, Zig and Ngai with proud Caissa and HKCF President David

In the Open category we had Caissa’s star player U16 Melvin and star coach IM Matthew Tan defending our honor.

Melvin scored 3 points by playing a handful of draws. Some bad luck kept him from more points but as this event was in preparation for the Dutch Open Melvin will join next week, the experience was very much worthwhile for him. With a little adventurous play we will see the best of him in Holland.

Melvin in action

Melvin overseeing the outdoor late evening analysis by Matthew

Matthew, among the top 3 in this group, all with 8 points, ended 2nd place on tie-break. Great score Matthew!

Matthew in action

David handing out the prizes in the Open group – this one goes to Matthew!

Prize winners Nanao Cup 2015

Unfortunately no prizes for battle chess ...

In the meanwhile … battle chess in the lobby…

David receiving a commemorative plaque for Caissa and HKCF

David with a commemorative plaque for Caissa and HKCF

Thanks all, players, parents, organizers. It was a great event in very good atmosphere. We’ll be back!

National Blitz Championship 2015: four National Champions from Caissa

June 28th, 2015

HKCF National Blitz 2015

The Hong Kong Chess Federation 1st National Blitz Championship was an important event in various ways. It would, for the first time in decades, hand out formal National Champion titles and as such formal entitlement to represent Hong Kong in international events. Also, the event was FIDE rated and along the youth age categories there was this time also an Open section for adults.

And the event was a great success for Caissa players, young and old! We already alluded to the fact that some of our players were smoking hot on our chess party yesterday, such that prizes would seriously expected to be within reach, the actual results were better than we could expect.

NA Sydney Lai gives instructions to the youth section

In U8 we only had 2 Caissa students, Seth and Mahir. Mahir, among the youngest in this age group, played his first tournament and scored 3 points but gained lots of experience which is the only goal in your first tournament. Seth, whose strength lies in longer chess games, with 6 points out of 11 had a good tournament in a 3 minutes + 2 seconds time control.

Congratulations to the top 3, Steven, Zeth and Samach who all played in one of the Caissa YGP events and scored well there too. Here are all results of U8.

In U10 we had our hot shot students Samuel, Kevin, Meijing, Aaditya and Miguel Angel lined up with Caissa member Harold.

Miguel Angel proved to be strongest player in this age group: congratulations Champ! Aaditya ended 4th just one place out of a prize. Meijing became Girl Champion – there was unfortunately only one girl. We are very proud of all our students who scored many points. Also congrats to our long time chess friends Adrian and Gerent with their 2nd and 3rd place.

Miguel Angel National Blitz Champion U10!

Mei Jing U10 Champion Girl 2015

In U12 our Caissa gunners were Jay, Richard and Oliver. Jay has had very limited practice in 3 minutes + 2 seconds but still managed to score 4 points.

Although in the direct confrontation Oliver beat Richard, it was Richard who managed to stay on top after 11 rounds impressively defeating all other top 6 players. Oliver just fell out of prizes on 4th place and big congrats to Richard with his National Champion title.

Richard National Blitz Champion U12

All other players were pooled in the Open group. From Caissa we had Tejpal, Koji, Conrad, Melvin and Long participating.

Tejpal just (re)started chess recently and this tournament is for him to oil his engine. The 3.5 points scored is not bad after a very long time hiatus. Koji and Conrad managed to score 5 points, just short of 50% ending solidly in the middle range.

The U16 and other age categories higher than U12 were pooled in the Open and Melvin with 5.5 points ended 6th place overall but that score brought him the title of National Champion U16. Well done Melvin, we are proud of you!

In Open, Long, our 2 times in a row Caissa champion in our Friday evening cycles, ended 2nd place and was the only person to draw against the new National Champion Daniel. Well done Long! And congratulations to our friend Daniel too.

Melvin U16 National Blitz Champion

Long Open National Blitz Runner Up

Teddy Wins Winter YGP2

March 12th, 2015

By defeating Marco, Teddy became the winner of U10 and the Champion of the YGP2 with 5.5. points. Teddy, our Caissa pupil, has developed strongly in the last couple of months. Well done!

Front: Harsh (white) vs. Oliver. Back: Marco (white) vs. Teddy

James, who won against Richard, became winner of U12 and also got 5.5 points but ended 2nd overall on the 4th tie-break, that is, Teddy had more wins with black.

Andy defeated Miguel Angel by a good occupation of Miguel’s back rank with his white rook. Herewith Andy ended 2nd in U10 and Miguel Angel 3rd.

Although Oliver won his game against Harsh, it was Ronald by defeating Mei Jing who with 4.5 points could claim 2nd prize in U12.

Final Ranking Cross Table Winter 2015 YGP2

Ronald had left earlier and did not get his prize handed out – but the other prize winners got their trophy and cash prizes handed out by coach Michel.

Miguel Angel 3rd place U10 YGP 2

Andy Au 2nd Prize U10

Teddy Yang, Winner U10 and Tournament Winner

James Kwong Champion U12

Finally the ranking of the YGP:

Ranking YGP per 8 March 2015

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

Caissa Successful in Shenzhen – 4 players win prizes

October 19th, 2014

Caissa players Joseph, Mei Jing, David, Miguel Angel, Koji and Richard

Last Saturday, 6 players and 2 supporters from Caissa crossed the border into Shenzhen early in the morning. The first round started at 9am and a total of 5 rounds were played until 5pm. With 2 more rounds on Sunday this was an action packed chess weekend.

The location of the event was a very nice school, and the hotel right around the corner was excellent, but also somewhat out of the way of residential facilities and it took quite a while to get a taxi to take us to Coco Park where some of our Shenzhen friends play outdoor chess and where we would have dinner.

Dinner at Coco Park

Nonetheless, over 2 days Mei Jing took the tournament seriously and scored 6 out of 7 ending second overall in group C among 120 players, also winning the first prize in the Girls category. Bravo Mei Jing!

Mei Jing (left) Best Girl with 6 out of 7

In the highest youth group Richard and Miguel Angel defended our honour with all they had. Miguel Angel had a glitch halfway the event and it was Richie who stayed on top of the pack until the last round, when he lost. Both Richard and Miguel Angel ended with 5.5 out of 7 within the prize range, 3rd and 7th respectively. Well done boys!

Richie 3rd and Miguel Angel 7th both with 5.5 out of 7.

In the Open Group, with a handful adults, including 2400+ rated International Master Li Bo who ended 6th in the recent HK International Open, and dozens of strong youth players, Koji and Joseph started off with a loss. Koji could not really find his rythm but Joseph, the player in form in our Autumn Open, recovered well and towards the end of the tournament with 5 out of 7 ended on 9th place. David started off very well with 3 out of 3 but lost 2 consecutive games after that, in an unnecessary fashion. His recovery on the second day with 2 wins pushed him up to 7th place with 5 points, like Joseph, and within prize range.

David, on behalf of Caissa, receives a plaque, token of appreciation

This was a very nice event, with hundreds of young players, well disciplined and clearly enjoying their weekend behind their board and pieces. What else can you ask as organizer. Well done Huateng Chess Club.

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

World Youth Chess Championship Al Ain – Hong Kong Results

January 4th, 2014

It has been a week now since the closing ceremony wrapped up 11 rounds of standard chess and 7 rounds of blitz chess over a period of 12 days at the World Youth Chess Championship 2013 in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Mei Jing and Miguel Angel Defending Hong Kong

On various web sites, blogs and facebook pages an abundance of reports have emerged, especially about the negative side of the management of this event. True, the tournament started hours late – the Al Ain Classic which ran parallel with dozens of GMs participating didn’t even had a physical location on the starting day – pairing of each blitz round took an hour or more, the catering queues, chaotic photo session, irritations from extensive patrolling at the venue … it was all part of this event and can be read about elsewhere.

Despite the chaotic dimensions which should not have been such omnipresent at a world championship level event, on the other side, this was a massive gathering of thousands of people from over hundred different countries who were very well hosted in an isolated but comfortable and fully equipped university campus, which was a city in itself. It is amazing that a game with a relatively simple set of rules can tie thousands of players, their supporters and other observers into a shared reality, deep and wide enough as to satisfy the mind’s highest needs for wonder.

ACF President Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al- Nehynan and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov among the Spectators

ACF President Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al- Nahyan and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov among the Spectators

Good to meet our Macao Friends

Our Caissa members and Hong Kong delegates, Miguel Angel and Mei Jing, did not reach their level they had shown at other tournaments. Mei Jing, and even more so Miguel Angel, came out of the opening very well with a plus almost every single game but in the transition to the middle game, where such advantages are to be exploited, it went wrong. This was not predominantly because of chess technical reasons (in the analysis it was clearly understood that some exchanges, tactics or strategic concepts were not well applied), but more so, the mental mindset was not tuned properly to believe in winning games against, for example, “rated players”.

Miguel Angel: Impressive and Overwhelming Environment …

Mei Jing (pink cap) Playing Blitz

Every time you see a good position slipping out of your hand, even when you do your best even more, you lose some confidence and we could unfortunately not break this vicious cycle. Miguel Angel ended with 4.5 points and Mei Jing with 5 points out of 11 in standard chess and with blitz chess Miguel Angel and Mei Jing ended with 4 points and 3 points respectively out of 7 games which in itself are not very bad result at all – and, give and take a half point, is very much in line with our other talents who recently went to such large international tournaments.

Nonetheless, the experience of participating in a massive tournament like this, and really doing your best, was worth another 5 “future” points at least. Well done Miguel Angel and Mei Jing who put up good fighting spirit representing Hong Kong at the world’s highest level youth chess event.

Two Caissa Players Represent Hong Kong in the World Youth Chess Championship in Al Ain (UAE)

December 7th, 2013

Our own home grown Caissa players Miguel Angel and Mei Jing will represent Hong Kong at the World Youth Chess Championship 2013 (17-29 December) in the Under 8 category.

Unfortunately there are no other players representing Hong Kong in the other age categories and it is therefore up to Miguel Angel and Mei Jing to leave a positive impression of chess in Hong Kong.

Form of the day, mental mindset, physical status and some luck are important influencing factors but if all come together well, some points will surely be scored.

Miguel Angel, Hong Kong National Blitz Champion U8 2012, Open Dutch Youth Champion U8 2013, ESF Schools Champion Lower Primary (2012, 2013) and for several years a top 5 finalist in his age group in the Hong Kong National Championships will benefit from the fact he is one of the older players in Under 8.

Mei Jing, number 5 in the World Youth School Championship U7 girls, ESF Schools Lower Primary 2nd place (2013) and best girl in her age group several years in a row in the Hong Kong National Championships is in good form but will have to overcome she is likely among the youngest in the U8 category.

We will not be aiming too high, have fun, but definitely do our best.