THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

This is part of the market for chess trainers in Singapore for 2016. There should be more of such jobs. All I can say is that the pie is growing and can only grow bigger if there are more trainers available. Some schools had shelved their Chess CCA due to lack of trainers, which is a real pity because I am sure that there are enough Singaporean chess players approaching their retirement with good speaking skills and just need a little training to teach chess to kids. Join me.

This year's National Championships from 20-27 December differs from the ones held before. We see the return of some old faces with the rating cap of 2400 lifted. With the absence of (IM Goh Wei Ming who will be away at  in Hungary), IMs Hsu Li Yang and Terry Toh, we get the participation of: GM Wong Meng Kong IM   Ravindran Shammugam IM   Enrique Paciencia IM   Tin JingYao FM  Mark Ong Chong Ghee (after a long break!) CM  Tan Wei Liang        Benjamin Foo        William Woong        Urcan Olimpiu We hope that this event with a total prize fund of $5000 can attract and compensate the top players of Singapore for their time and effort in maintaining the chess prowess whilst pursuing a career outside of chess. I hope that the following players (whose names are mentioned below) do see the significance of contributing back to the Singapore Chess scene now that there is positive vibes and vigour with the launch of the Nationals. Terry Chua IM-elect Timothy Chan FM Dominic Lo Kelvin Wee A

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 For those wanting to play, please click on TOA PAYOH WEST CC TOURNAMENT ENTRY FORM

The 2nd Thomson Chess Fiesta concluded yesterday, smoothly run thanks to the tireless team of 6 that saw to rapid situational changes (including changing 30 clocks on the spot due to an error in settings). Other than that, most players had relatively good conditions of play, though parents had to scramble for chairs they could find to get seated in the hall.  All Prize Winners  The top 3 prize winners in the Cup Rapid were dominated by the foreign players, top place was Nelson Villanueva with 7.5 pts, followed by Steward Manaog  and Franco Demiar on 7. Our local juniors Tan Jun Hao and Lee Shi Hao followed on 6.5 pts. Gavin scored best performance for U14 with 6pts finishing 9th, Thomson Chess Club regular Leong Sher Han scored 4 pts to end 37th out of 64 registered players.  Full results here The Thomson Challengers had an outstanding result : Under 10 player Zachary Leong finished ahead of 2 adults to emerge clear 8 pts as Champion! Bradley from VS scored 6 pts but finished just outs

No, this is not a scene in Europe or the US.. It's right here in Singapore!  That's right. And you thought chess is only played by kids here :-) Well, the adult scene is thankfully kept alive thanks to the efforts of Bradley Loh, a FIDE-rated enthusiast who sets up the boards and tables for the regular meetup group to play at the Asia Square Tower 1 foyer from 6.30pm till 9.30pm Wednesdays. As I had no teaching to do, I thought I'd pop by to check out the action. There were about 18 or so players who milled in and out of the event, many of whom I do not recognise. However once seated, the action was fast and furious. The lighting was good though I'd wish the PSI was lower than the 100+ then. I introduced myself to Bradley and being every good organiser he whisked me to an opponent to blitz in less than 30 seconds. It was a good mix of locals and foreigners playing blitz, skittles and there was a puzzle set up and the winner gets a mini-bottle of red wine. I soon met up

The Johore and Penang Opens have published their prospectus as both tournaments run back to back, with the Penang starting from 7 to 12 Dec  followed by the Johore Open from 14 to 19 Dec. A good 2 weeks of serious chessplaying awaits those who yearn for long drawn battles where stamina and nerves outplay impulse and speed. The PENANG OPEN prospectus The JOHORE OPEN prospectus Serious standard chess players should make their trip bookings early as these tournaments are very well attended and often the hotel rooms are quickly full. Based on experience, Penang's public transport is not as convenient so if you are staying some distance away from the Red Rock it may be some hassle getting to the playing venue on time. The venue however, is simply wonderful! This is what it looks like at last year's Johore Open at the 36th floor of the City Square Tower. I am sure it will even be better furnished. Thanks to the organisers for the photos! The Penang Chess Association has organised a c

My FI card arrived yesterday !

DISCLAIMER: This post is written by a chess trainer. There is an acute shortage of chess educators on this island.  Back in the early 21st century we saw institutions like Intchess hiring as many as 32 trainers to cope with the demand for chess education in schools. Other institutions like Powerchess, Chesskidz, Chess Academy and over the last 10 years we have also seen more recent players like Checkmate and Master Move come into the scholastic scene as well. Freelance trainers like myself are but a handful. However, the pool could barely cover the demands of enrichment programs relating to chess from the primary schools locally.  With the government's policy of curbing foreign talent, employment passes for chess trainers are hard to get and existing ones not renewed when the term expired. Singapore is now facing a chess trainer crunch when the number of trainers available are dwindling and yet demand is on the rise. Many schools have placed their tenders on Gebiz calling for term

It's taking place just around the corner, have you formed your teams yet? Take this opportunity to gather inactive and retired chess-players and join! School teams should take this opportunity as a warm up tournament for the coming National Inter Schools. We hope to do better than last year's turnout - let's make it a vibrant tournament ! Details are available here .

This year we had the privilege of joining the PA Corporate Partners group in the National Day Observance Ceremony at Teck Ghee, with the GOH none other than the PM himself with Ms Ho Ching. Parents and children from the NJS joined the newly elected President Mr Leonard Lau, myself, ED Thomas, EXCO members Toni and Adelin. We were 1 of 3 groups with a banner there. Everone was in high spirits as we sang our National Songs loudly and proudly! Just as we were to board the bus back to SCF, a call from EXCO member Philip beckoned us back to the venue for a rare photo opportunity! The PM graciously took this picture with us and thanked us for coming to the ceremony. We also had pictures with Mr Ang, CEO PA and Ms Ho Ching which were posted on Facebook. Many present took pictures of the SCF group which was a refreshing and welcome change as we made our presence felt. This is the first step the new SCF Committee is taking to rebuild its image as one relevant entity with the PA Strategic Partne

Cyrus Nisban has won the Asian Schools' U11 title after scoring 7.5/9 in a keenly contested field comprising  of opponents from Kazakhstan, Mongolia,Sri Lanka, and displacing the favourite Nogerbek Kazybek. My congratulations to Cyrus for scoring Team Singapore's first tournament success in this year's regional competition. This win would certainly inspire the others in try to better results in the upcoming Asean Age Group Championships starting 9 June.

As a mark of respect for our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the Thomson Chess Fiesta shall be postponed to 7-8 November. Participants who have signed up can get their refunds if they are unable to commit to the new date. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ANYMORE ENTRIES FOR 28-29 MARCH. WE WILL RELEASE NEW FORMS CLOSER TO NOVEMBER. Sorry for the inconvenience.

THE GIRLS The beige coloured entries are my private students while those in white are the ones I teach in schools in groups.  3 of the 6 private students scored 6 points or more. Congratulations to Arshia on her 2nd placing in her first NSI! Cadence also did well to finish on 6 but Cheong Sue Lyn let slip another opportunity to finish in the top 3 despite a 5/5 on her first day. Complacency has struck yet again... I am glad that Claire and Alyssa managed their scores, even when it is their first year with me. All that is required to do better is to have more game practice. The Thomson club sessions on Fridays have definitely helped.  The RGPS girls did satisfactorily as many do not do much outside of their once a week CCA. Who knows what they can be capable of if they can devote more time to the game :-) THE BOYS My male private students fared better, with more achieving 6 pts. I Shiang came very close to challenging the Champion but nerves got in the way and he finished his game much

Reading this article will definitely save your children from zero-starting on March 17-18! If you are coming via the PIE then TPE, exit at Loyang Ave and drive along till Pasir Ris Drive 3. Turn left into it and once past Downtown East on your right (about 1 km after turn from Loyang), you will see East Vale on your left and once past the river the Sports Hall is on the left turn into Pasir Ris Central. Try  NOT  to alight your child at the Sports Hall Drop Off (see below). Imagine 800 students and estimated double the number of parents alighting from this driveway! Getting your child there will be a lot faster if you choose alternative drop offs. One is at the side of East Vale and walk across the bridge to the Hall, Do not turn into Pasir Ris Central Rd for I am sure the  will be conjested on that day. The other is to alight at the Pasir Ris MRT station and walk across (about 5 minutes). Another hassle free drop off is to turn left to Pasir Ris Drive 6 right after you past Downtown E

The 2nd Thomson Chess Fiesta shall take place March 28-29 weekend. We are the only CC tournament applying incremental time controls for all events in the Fiesta. Those interested can follow this link for more details

The faces tell it all..prizes or none, on the students who took part in the Kickoff Tournament organised by SCF at the Toa Payoh Sports Centre on Sunday 11 January. 7 prize winners in the respective categories ! I want to congratulate Naython Tan on his superb performance today in the Cat 4G section, 2nd with 5.5 pts, as well as Soh Rui Yang though he finished on 5th by tiebreak. Good job boys! Andre and Ethan Chiam started their first tournament and I'm so proud of them after they watched Sue Lyn in action and learnt so much about taking their time to record their games and think. Ethan managed to record till move 35 and he was unexpectedly not crying over his loss. They have grown to learn how to deal with losses and I'm sure they will look forward to playing their next tournament. I Shiuo scored 4 pts while Jasper managed 2.5 pts. I Shiuan and Sue Lyn are in Cat 2 and clearly the strength of the participants meant extra effort to win every game. Both lost against the Champio

Many may find this book archaic in presenting the study of pawn structure with its quirky terms like leucopenia, telestop, ram etc. But if you take that away and understand its content, Pawn Power is a classic book on pawn structures that no budding chess-player can avoid studying. Evidently this came about when we were discussing a game between Cyrus Nisban and Lee Jun Wei. Someone opined that the position was wrongly played by Black having a Benoni pawn structure, where White broke through the centre with the advance e5. The pawn advance is thematic (at least to those who read the book). When discussing the position further, it seemed that Lee did not realise that his c8 bishop was a hindrance and his battle plan should involve the exchange of that bishop. Again, such understanding can only be attained if one were to read books like Pawn Power in Chess.  The study of pawns pervades not only in the opening but also into the middlegame and endgame. Of course, computer analysis may do a