THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

Toa Payoh West held its annual Rapid Chess Tournament on 1 Dec Sunday and attracted a very strong Open Section field, with 86 players, including 2 IMs, 1 FM and even inactive junior champions who decided to try their hand at the competition. Possibly because its not rated?? Just thought I'd feature the hardworking team led by Kenny Chern who normally assisted in the Cairnhill tournaments at this time of year, but due to the forthcoming renovations to the CC, the event was cancelled. Thanks to Chris the chief arbiter (he's camera shy), Hafiz , Chong Peng and Samuel for helping us out.  Quite a few of my students participated in the Open, namely Royce Tan, Adrian Yeo, Bryan Sow, Tan Zhong Kai and Lee I Shiuan. In the Junior  there was U13, Caleb, Nicholas Low the U10 group saw Lee I Shiang, Malcolm Sow, Tan Qi Xuan, Naython Tan and Cadence Low the only girl. Sue Lyn did not turn up.  The Open Section was in my opinion the strongest turnout that I've seen at Rapid tournament...

Another year with newer students taking part in this year's National Age Group held at Jurong East Sports Hall. The students taking part in the various sections include: Girls U-8   -  Cadence Loh Boys U-8   -  Naython Tan, David Tan, Emmanuel Lim Rei Girls U-10 -  Grace Ho, Cheong Sue Lyn Boys U-10 -  Caleb Loh, Jonathan Tan, Malcolm Sow, Jaryl Seah, Elliot Lim Han, Jaden Rabind Charles Boys U-14 -  Lee I-Shiuan, Tan Zhong Kai, Keith Khoo, Rohin Singh, Adrian         Yeo, Bryan Sow THE GIRLS The 3 female students that took part did reasonably well. All were playing in the first-ever long time-control of 1.5 hrs per side. They managed to stay in the game for about 1-2 hrs which is commenable. Though Cadence has just started with me, Sue Lyn showed the most promise having beaten the likes of Lisa Tan, R Shahana and Grace and achieving a performance rating of 1224. There is great potential for this girl if s...

I post the results of my students at the recently completed National School's Individuals Some have improved their placings, while others have slipped down owing to losing their last round games. I am pleased overall with their performance, especially first timers Jaryl Seah in the U11 and Tan Qi Xuan in the U10. Both have started less than 6 months with me and I see good potential if they work hard in their practices. For those who finished 3.5 pts or less, it goes to show that success on the chessboard cannot come from just taking lessons alone. A lot of hard work must be put into constant practice, going through the notes and revising them. No teacher can play the games for you or help you during the games. You have to be accountable for your results. I specially congratulate Royce, Hui Ling, Adrian for their fine finish amongst the top 5 and also Mitchell who came in 11th despite a strong field. Royce is the only student who took part in all 3 days of competition and did well t...

We have the endgame league and the adult's league starting today from 730pm so as to give the 1 hr per side for each player. The following members have registered: ADULTS LEAGUE Alvin Chen Agung Santoso Brian Lee Royce Tan Adrian Yeo Oei Liang Hien ENDGAME LEAGUE Marcus Chen Benjamin Hurst Tan Jun Hao Nicholas Low Mitchell Han Please be ready to play at 730pm. We can delay up till 745pm but no later. See you then.

After no-shows and absentees, we settled to 81 participants. The hall was setup only on Sunday morning due to the IConnect evening at the CC on Saturday. So it was a blessing that we started at 10am. Our CCMC Chairman, Mr Sng  Jin Poh and Treasurer Mr Tan Tiong How came by to visit and I amthankful for their support to chess for all these years. We've attracted a lot of new players at the tournament (based on the number of illegal moves claimed by the players) and its a healthy sign that its popularity amongst the youth has not quite waned. Though the weather was downcast, the games played were quite the opposite - with lots of gusto, risk, hair-tearing agony and ecstacies.  The senior section has a good mix of strong adults and a former junior champion with the top juniors like Tin YingJao, Ashvin Sivakumar to name a few. We did not give any cash or trophies, only books, which automatically meant that the mercenaries would stay away from this event and allow the chess die...

As usual, its time to present the report for my student's performance for the year 2012. The 2011 report is linked here for those wishing to compare their previous year's performance. I am most heartened when 11 out of my 13 students who took part in 3 or more competitions last year achieved more than 30 pts increase in their ratings (one of my 2011 resolutions). What's even more heartening is that 5 of them had over 100 pts increase in their ratings for the year, excluding the one who had received his rating only in 2012.     Royce Tan (at left)  is my player of the year for 2012. Starting with me in Jan 2012, he has persevered having to relearn a new opening repertoire which took months to ingest and finally the results piled in towards the last quarter, with great performance ratings for the Penang Open where he finished 1st in the U10 category, the National Age Group 2012 where he was 4th and the recently concluded New Generation tournament where he was also 4th in t...