This year I had 4 students taking part in the 2025 NAG held at the same venue (Our Tampines Hub) but in December instead of end November.
In my opinion November may be a better time but I guess this is subjected to OTH's availability. Some top players were absent perhaps due to the schedule, but it does not take away the credit of the winners in the categories (which were changed to odd years from even years in 2024).
My students were placed in the lower of the age-category so they had uphill tasks when facing older opponents. So if they performed well, it is indeed a bonus.
U9
2 students competed in the U9 category. G scored 4.5/9 so he passed. Towards the last 4 rounds, he finally saw the light to review the notes in order to help his games. That made for his passing when he was scoring 1.5/4. E on the other hand could not get settle down in the tournament and had to settle for 3.5/9 scoring 1.5 from the last 4 games. From the scoresheets, he was not comfortable when facing uncommon opening moves and got into bad positions. G showed better fighting spirit and though he lost in the end, I commended him for spending nearly 4 hours in spite of the result. We do not merely play for the result but rather inspire the children to remain resilient despite getting a bad result. This is the more important takeaway from taking part in the NAG - to not give up easily even under pressure.
U11
L was placed in the toughest category in my opinion. Most of the top finishers were older than him. I was impressed that he managed to beat a higer rated opponent at the last round to finish 6/9. Having played longer time control games weekly helped him to slow down his play and minimise his losses. He was outplayed as Black mainly against d4 players so work needs to be done in that area.
U13
A started with me in 2025 with many weaknesses so we took each lesson to work on his game. Regular playing weekly games built his temperament and moulded it to be accustomed to classical time controls, perhaps that made him play a little too slow. He managed 2 draws against the 4 higher rated players which was commendable. Losing game 7 due to a blunder set him back mentally into a mild depression which he could not snap out. That led to his loss in Game 9 which puts him at 3.5 pts. He was upset at his performance but I consoled him that one must take bad results as part of the journey. What matters now is to review the games and seek to correct the mistakes made in each loss. There's another tournament coming up so best to channel the energies into preparation when he returns from his holidays.
Overall I had satisfied with the results as they reflect the state of preparation put in by each student. The importance of preparation cannot be stressed enough - not knowing your first 12 moves often leads you to spend the necessary time to fix the bad position (if it can be done). Not spending that time will often lead one straight to a loss.
Reflecting on one's psyche when approaching each game helps to draw the right conclusions from the result - the need to develop resilience in springing back from a loss can only be learned at such tournaments. Kudos to L for his 6/9 result! Time to prepare for the next tournament.
Life moves on.
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