THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

  With the Government's long-awaited easing of COVID restrictions from March 29, the return of over the board chess is imminent. Many have been eagerly practicing online for the last 2 years, honing their skills in preparation to play FIDE-rated events which can materialise with more people in venues that can take up to 75% of their capacity. As the country moves into endemic mode, we should see the normalising of over the board chess activity as the goal to rejuvenate the once-vibrant  chess scene, from the Asia Square meetups to the QCD Adults League and other similar initiatives. Though I do not envisiage the return of the full scale National Schools' event such as the one above, 75% of the above Sports Hall is achievable with masks on for participants. Certainly the yearning for the National Schools' Teams and National Age Group to be played in such venues is there - but of course we may have to seek the cooperation of parents who would have to play their part in droppi

  The recently concluded 73 rd National Schools Individual Championships started from 13 March drew 1364 participants, which included the Polytechnics and International Schools. The games were played on the LiChess server as a 7-round Swiss tournament for each category. Below is a report of the performance of my students in the competition. It is a mixed bag of joys and sorrows, where there were nail-biting moments and ecstatic glows when the positional win was executed with good technique, albeit in an online setting.   U16 Leonard Loh 31 st   4.5 pts out of 145 players U14 Ho Ray Ee 45 th 4 pts, Theodore Tan 142nd 1 pt     out of 146 players U12 Jireh Ting 33 rd 5 pts, Damien Tay 63 rd 4.5 pts , Ryan Heng 99 th 4 pts, Armaan Narwani 2 pts   out of 283 players U10 Yu Kaiyi 2 nd   6.5 pts, Kyan Heng 10 th 6 pts, Lucas Lim 49 th 5 pts out of 276 players U08 Timothy Lam 86 th 3 pts out of   133 players   OBSERVATIONS AND AFTERTHOUGHT Overall my   stu