THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

Day 2 was rather eventful, with unexpected losses mixed with some tough wins.  Adrian was the first to go down, then Sam. Mitchell managed a planned draw as his opponent didn't know how to navigate the intricacies of the Queen's Gambit and exchanged pieces to a draw. In the afternoon, things turned for the better after I reminded them to slow down. Nicholas won his second game through sheer grit, zeroing his opponent through the crosshair in the endgame for a nice checkmate.  Adrian won through a neat sacrifice which got him the exchange and won with a backrank mating motif netting a piece but the opponent allowed the checkmate. Sam took the game in stride and ground down his opponent Jarrel who blundered towards the end of the 2nd hour. Hopefully they will all settle in and let their talent shine through in the games tomorrow. To lose a game in 8 moves then struggling till move 40 is not my idea of a game. I have stressed time and again knowing the lines to avoid any such mis...

You can download the entry form here

1.       The tournament is organized by the Thomson CCMC and the games shall be played according to the FIDE Laws of Chess for Rapid Chess (G/25). Players may choose to play in the SENIORS (no age limit) or   JUNIORS (Aged 12 and below) section. 2.       ELIGIBILITY : This tournament is open to members only. Players paying the entry fee shall be made members of the Chess Club and are entitled 1 year membership with immediate effect. 3.       VENUE : Thomson Community Club Hall, 194 Upper Thomson Road Singapore 574339 4.       PAIRING : Swiss System of  7 Rounds,  time control  25 minutes each side to finish. 5.       SCHEDULE: 15 th January Sunday 10.00 am to 5.50 pm . Please report  by  9.30am. Walkover time for Round 1 is  25 minutes.  Prize  Giving Ceremony  at 6.30pm. 6.    PRIZES : A minimu...

It's the time of year when plans are made for the forthcoming year ahead, reminding ourselves how we can improve upon the happenings past. Looking back, some of the students have made significant strides in their performance, but will need the January SCF rating list for verification. Others have moved, though slower, but are surely playing better when I first worked with them. My resolutions for my students for the New Year will be: To score minimum 4.5 pts /7  for all 7 rd Swiss tournaments they participate To ensure that they spend either 4 hours a week on chess-playing or equivalent of 50 puzzles a week, with   the cooperation from parents To help them gain about 30 rating points per tournament For the better students, they should prepare for the top 5 spots in the local major age-group tournaments. Achievement in chess does spur confidence in the child, however we must always emphasise that all good results come from thorough preparation and hard work. To inspire the...

Shi Hao and Hui Ling took part in this and did very well. Shi Hao scored 5.5/7 (losing only to Tyler Lian in the first round) and came in first  while Hui Ling came in 4th in their category. Training coupled with practice to reinforce their knowledge is by far the best way to achieve rapid progress, which is measured by their rating performance ( 1473 for Shi Hao and 1361 for Hui Ling). Oliver Cheok took part in the above 1400 and scored 5th position with 4.5, losing to Tommy Tan and Aloysius Chia.

Here's the results for the Toa Payoh West CC Tournament  Under 13  Here    Under 7   Here     Under 8  Here    Under 9  Here                     and of course,  the OPEN is already published here                

We've started the first of our 8 training days for the coming Singapore International Youth Tournament. It lasts 4 hours per session (designed to stretch the players to cope with the first 4 hours of play). Quite a fair bit done with vision drills, followed by solving tons of 2-3 move tactics. I'm harnessing the wisdom of Michael De La Maza and Dan Heisman, thanks to their insights I've incorporated their advice on working on chess-playing ability rather than stuffing more chess knowledge at this point. Training Day 2 promises to be gruelling, with more puzzles, more intense visualisation tasks ahead. Sorry but there will be no photos as the competitors's names and faces are confidential at this point. Players who have done well were rewarded with a good bowl of lotus root soup with rice plus kit kat too between breaks. Not a dull moment !

Lately there was talk of a group of parents wanting to appeal to the MOE for chess to recognise as an official sport. Though I commend the noble effort of the group, some doubts linger in my mind: How does having more children playing chess raise the stature of the game here in Singapore? How does it increase the popularity of the game here? Will chess be as popular as that in Indonesia, India and other countries? Here is my opinion. Throughout the countries that are promoting chess from age 6 onwards, we have several institutions like Chess-in-the-Schools program, the Susan Polgar academy in the US, while in the UK Michael Basman and Malcolm Pein also championed the Chess in Schools & Communities project . Lately we have Kasparov starting Chess for Schools in the EU. The Scholastic chess ( chess in primary and secondary school) model is being seen as the most likely model to propagate chess interest amongst the populace. Sadly, the results of these noble efforts do not commensura...

I've got several of my students to take part in this, with no expectations as I wanted them to enjoy playing after such a long break from chess because of the exams. In all, the stronger students did not disappoint, while others played to enjoy themselves in spite of the mistakes. Shi Hao's game against the winner of the Open, Ashwin, was rather close from the opening to the middlegame. He had surprised Ashwin with the Danish Gambit which was declined. Generally when a player declines  a gambit, it implies a psychological victory to the gambiteer but probably the more prudent choice when one is not prepared to enter the battle a pawn up. I viewed the game vaguely where White was training his heavy pieces on Black, thought it went well but was told later that Shi Hao lost.  After a day's battle, Visakan came in 4th with 6/7 pts.    Joshua was very much himself, playing with his hands rather than his eyes on the board, made the usual mistakes but won some games against...

Most children I know love to sign up and enter every tournament they can participate in, but the results they obtain do not always measure up to their enthusiasm. Sometimes we need to understand what is meant by " LESS IS MORE ". To put it simply, why play 5 tournaments and end up getting 50% score ? Why not prepare and play 2 good tournaments and end up top 5 placing? Even grandmasters do not go past 60 games A YEAR. They spent the rest of the year PREPARING . So how does one PREPARE?  Rather than reproduce the same text, why not read it for yourself here However, I must qualify some of Botvinnik's comments - they are meant for top players, not club players.   " I study games played by my rivals during the forthcoming competition "    You can only do that if you are playing in a round-robin tournament, where everyone meets everyone. This approach is not practicable in a Swiss system tournament, where your opponents vary. But then, if you are observant enou...

School's out pretty soon, so it's time to revisit the tournaments that will be in place for November and December. There's 25minute rapid chess and longer time controls of 2 hrs per game or more, plenty to choose from. I am broadcasting mainly those tournaments which are not organised by the SCF. For SCF tournaments, please goto  the SCF   for all the Upcoming Events. TOA PAYOH WEST CC  NOVEMBER 20 Round 1 starts 930am. There are 3 sections, A1 Junior Under 13 yrs, A2 Junior Under 10yrs, and Open (no age limit). Cash prizes and trophies awarded for Sections A1 and Open, trophies only for A2.  Lunch will be provided for Junior Sections A1 and A2 only . The entry form can be downloaded here   CAIRNHILL CHESS FESTIVAL 2011 DECEMBER 3-4 There are again 3 Sections, Open (No age limit), Major (16 yrs and under) and Minor ( 12 yrs and under). The Open and Major Sections are played in 45 minutes per side, thus over 2 days while the Minor is a one-day tournament played ...

The tournament has 2 sections, the Open for those 1601 and above and the Novice Section for those rated 1600 and under. Shi Hao and Mitchell took part, with Shi Hao ending on 3.5 and Mitchell on 4.5. He was placed 23rd in the field of 96 players, beating Foo Kai En in the last round who's rated 1392. He should get about 30 rating pts from this tournament. What matters to me is not so much just the results but tbe valuable lessons one learns during the course of the seven games. When Mitchell started off his first game, he lost it in about 20 minutes. What he was not aware of is the time management of his game which needs a little adjustment. He was working out 1 variation which he saw and did not try to see other moves which could be better. After explaining to him that the purpose of spending time was to first SELECT the candidate moves, evaluate the resultant position of EACH candidate move and then picking the best of the lot. Hence the need to take one's time to do this, es...

Based on SCF October Rating list, most of my students have made improvements in their ratings. 3 have created their accounts in the SCF Rating List. Good work boys and girls!! My target is for all students to increase their ratings by 30 points for each half year. That is achievable should they work hard in their performance for the remaining tournaments to be held in the year.

There were many famous chess collaborations between the student and teacher.  Arturo Pomar and Alekhine, Karpov and Semyon Furman,Kasparov and Botvinnik, finally   Magnus Carlsen and Kasparov,  Carlsen and Simen Agdestein. Some worked, some didn't. For those who did work, the chief success factor was on the personality of the student and his view of the trainer. Chemistry. If we studied the influence of Furman on his pupil Karpov, both men had similar styles, positional wizards to be exact. However, Furman was able to impart his wide body of chess middlegame knowledge to his student. Botvinnik managed to convince Kasparov on the need for chess research despite having enormous talent. He often scolded Kasparov for his impulsiveness in churning out variations without careful study of the requirements of the position. "You'll never be a good player if you let the variations control you instead of you controlling the variations!" I believe Kasparov learnt his lesson unde...

Here's the report of the performance of my students who participated at the recent National Inter-Schools at Rulang Primary School. 3 of them achieved perfect scores, while the rest scored 4 and above. What more can I ask? Well done boys and girls! Perfect score achievers get a present as promised. PERFECT SCORES       THE 4 & ABOVE POINTERS        

From Left: Oliver, Zhong Yi, Jonah (standing),Elliot and Joven Victoria School emerged 3rd in this year's National Inter-Schools Secondary Open Under 14  at Rulang Primary School held Sep 11. We were seeded 4th behind ACS I A, RI A and HCI. I had stressed to the boys the importance of a good showing in our trainings and its impact on the survival and well-being of the VS Chess Club in future years. Most of the boys who played in school competitions shyed away from the Club because it is a second CCA. With this mission in mind, the boys were playing online games consistently during our preparation and worked towards sharpening their tactics. We had discussed possible scenarios of the possible scores that we could get against the higher seeded teams, as well as individual openings that can occur against them. All that remains is the state of form the players were in. Before the tournament day, I wrote in our Facebook group that we had a realistic chance of coming in 3rd, if we were t...

I don't really envy myself as a eulogist, but I had to say something for our ex SCF President who served the Federation in the years 1986-87. Among those who served were Choong Liong Onn, Tan Lian Ann, Giam Choo Kwee, George Wong, myself and Lim Chye Lye. Ignatius Leong was then Competitions Secretary. SCF meetings were usually held at Dr Wong's home at Chancery Lane. As a great host, Dr Wong will welcome us in person and before starting the session, he will treat us with the most appetising of tidbits. Afterward, he would insist that we go for supper at the Whitley Road hawker centre, then situated under the Whitley flyover. As a President, Dr Wong often listened to suggestions and gave his insights on the big picture, but left us to iron out the details. His biggest contribution at his time was his submission of a paper to the SNOC on why chess should be rightly labelled a sport rather than a game. He tried hard to impress upon the authorities that being Asian, Singapore shou...

As the school holidays start with effect from Friday, Thomson Chess Club will be open from 7pm till 10pm for Sep 2 and 9 Fridays. Members who wish to come practice before the National Inter-Schools Team Championship are welcome.

After reading Chess Ninja's post on the topic, I am sure many will be convinced that chess coaches or normal GMs do not make much financially. I have asked GM Torre back when he was here: " Would you recommend the path of a GM to anyone?" He stopped to think before replying : " It's not for anyone. The path to GM is tough and only those who are deeply passionate about chess and not much else should venture into it". So please forget about trying to make big bucks when you enter into the world of chess. Most of us who are involved in chess organising give much of our time, energies and sometimes even money just to ensure that tournaments are run well, players are at least silent on complaints. As a coach in Singapore, I speak for myself that I can survive comfortably being single and not having to feed a family, given the high cost of living here. In many ways, chess coaching is about the few professions I can go into once you are in your 40s here. Getting a ...

This month, I am in pensive mode so I thought I'd share a few interesting and funny GM stories before I start to lose them. 1995 - Eugene Torre was in Singapore and had just won the Asian Inter-Continental Rapid Chess Championships. I was his escort and tried to help him get some local goodies for him to bring home. The first was durian. I told him that it was forbidden to bring it onboard but he was relentless. So rather than dissuade him, we managed to find a durian seller who would pack it airtight so that no smell would be emitted. That done, he needed cash to pay. So we went to a money changer. I introduced Eugene to him and announced : " This is Asia's first Chess Grandmaster! You must give him a better rate." To which the friendly Indian money changer replied : " Yes, he is Asia's first, but not first compared to India's Visawanathan Anand". Both Eugene and I were red-faced after his remark. 1992- We had just landed in Singapore and I spotted ...

He's probably done the most for Singapore chess during 1968-74, having helped the Singapore Olympiad team then in their preparations. Many of our senior players remember him for his affable, congenial disposition - always courteous, smiling, never losing his composure. My first meeting with the man was in 1978. Karpov had just defeated Korchnoi in Manila. As students at RI we were told that a FIDE delegation would be visiting the school and I was given the task of organising a simul for the FIDE President Fridrik Olaffsen. Strangely, a man came in the afternoon into the lecture hall where we staged our reception and started to give a talk on pawn endings. He was ready to give away collar pins to anyone who could solve the puzzles. Several of the boys did, which made him very happy. Then he proceeded to give the simul. He had not yet introduced himself. The simul started and shortly after 20 minutes, another group of people entered into the simultaneous match. One elderly gentleman ...

I was manager of the then National Junior Squad back in 1986-87, which comprised names like IM Hsu Li-Yang, Wong Foong Yin, Ong Chong Ghee, Low Pe-Yeow,Mark Tan, Lee Wang Sheng, Lee Song and Mark and Jeremy Lim (?!). The SCF then received news that GM Eduard Gufeld was available for a 3-day seminar having spent some time in Malaysia at the Chess Palace there doing the same thing. After deliberation, IM Tan Lian Ann agreed to sponsor the training but made sure that all proceedings were recorded and that I would be the chaperon. GM Eduard Gufeld was renowned as the trainer who help Maya Chiburdanidze rise to world fame by beating the then Women's World Champion Nona Gaprindashvilli. He was also the creator of several beautiful wins in the King's Indian Defence, notably his "Mona Lisa" against Bagirov in 1973 and then another against Mestel in 1985 in Hastings. He showed both games in the simultaneous match in Singapore at the Chinese Swimming Club and it was really a wo...

The list of prizes continues with Nicholas Low coming in  2nd at the Under 9. He was winning against Hui Ling on Round 6 but gave a stalemate. So he learnt his lesson of not playing fast after this game, because he could have been Champion with the win. Lessons are best learnt this way I feel, despite all the advice and reminders I gave, this fact would do much more in shaping his chess future. But receiving the trophy made him forget his brooding all too soon. Kaarthik also won a Merit Prize at the Under9. This boy's achievement is due mainly to his diligence in playing many games online, which helped in improving his chess vision since I took over his training. Shaw Fong (pictured below) missed out of the top 5 placings for the Under 10 section, coming in 7th on 5/7. He was always cheerful through the tournament and enjoyed his games. I believe this achievement will spur him to work harder for future successes. Matthew Sim got a Merit Prize at the Under 10. Dan Peng's regular...

Yesterday marked the Toa Payoh West CC Invitational tournament with 223 participants, organised by the Toa Payoh West CC and Kheng Cheng School. There were 6 categories, from Under 7 to Primary Open. I persuaded most of my students to take part, as a measure of their progress after months of training. In the Under-7 category, my latest student Visakan Swaminathan scored 7/7 to win the category. I can see the glint in his eyes when he told me about it and that in itself is priceless. The joy of achievement and success is always sweet and should be remembered. The photo below said it all.   I am very proud of Visakan mainly because he has listened to my instructions during the tournament - not to run around whilst others expended their energies, stay focussed on the game and with the help of his father, did just that. My 2 other students, brother and sister Lee Shi Hao and Hui Liang respectively, once again showed their composure in being Champion for their categories. Shi Hao a...

In spending months and years of time in training, parents will often ask the question: "How is my child doing?" A very fair question as it involves investing precious time on the student's part and money on the parent's part in pursuing this interest of playing chess. So how does one answer this question? Is chess progress quantifiable? I for one do not base everything just on results alone - it is too narrow a yardstick. Results from tournaments are often the quickest way of establishing the performance of the student, yet there are some intangible traits which should also be noticed, primarily in the student's behaviour, his outlook not just on chess but on other matters as well. How about presence of mind for one? I've seen many of my students taking better care of their belonging now, being more forthcoming with questions rather than just listening. These are all encouraging traits that chess can help inculcate - a higher self-esteem, goal-oriented focus, ...

CANNOT FIND TIME TO PLAY For parents reading this, you should sincerely ask yourself why. If a child is truly burdened with school work and does not even have time to find a spot in a day to play, what happens generally is that weekly hourly lessons do not take much effect.Often it is pouring sand onto a sieve. Much of the material covered cannot be assimilated. It will be difficult to make progress if the concepts learnt cannot be applied, made to work and then remembered. Chess is no different from learning Chinese. It does require time and practice. DOES NOT READ CHESS MATERIAL Parents should also realise that some kids are only keen on playing but not learning about chess. They enjoy the interaction, socialising with other children (which is also healthy) but may not wish to spend time in learning the materials given to them because they view it as WORK which is not fun. As coaches, it is a primary challenge to motivate all students and make them understand that only hard work and ...

"Yeah, Chemistry" said the great Marlon Brando in his movie Guys and Dolls. No, we're not talking about the science here, but the affinity that needs to exist between student and teacher. Chemistry defines the main ingredient that generates trust between 2 persons especially at the point of the first meeting, when no prior information is obtain by either parties to size up the other. What makes a great student sometimes is not just the greatness , enthusiasm nor ingenuity of the teacher to inspire or expound. Often, it is the student's innate trust of the information that the teacher provides and the belief that this knowledge can and will certainly work for him/her. Hence, it is the onus for the teacher (who is generally the more experienced when it comes to sizing up) to first ascertain if there is indeed chemistry between student and teacher before deciding on continuing future lessons. Generally there are tell-tale signs whether the chemistry exists. It comes in t...

Here's Shi Hao who scored 5/7  and came in 9th, while Hui Ling scored 6/7 and was third in her category.

Starting tomorrow 1 July Friday, Thomson CC Chess Club shall be running a weekly Friday Junior Endgame League. This is FREE and open to junior members aged 15 and under. RULES - Venue is the Chess Club Room on 3rd Floor, Thomson CC Classroom 03-05. Play starts at 8pm. - Each week, players get to play 1 endgame position with level material. Players toss to choose which colour they will be playing. - Scoring is 1 point for win, 0.5 for draw and 0 for loss. - Players who show up shall be paired with an opponent. Each player may play at most twice against the same opponent but with different colours. - Time Control is 30 minutes per side. - Recording is optional. - Prizes are awarded to the top 3 players who score the most number of points as at 30 August 2011. Interested members please send me an email to johnwong@pacific.net.sg stating your name, age as at 1 Jan 2011. If you are not able to come for that week, please sms 97985479 on Friday morning. This will help us in confirming opponen...

Just received the sad news that a dear old friend, Tang Kum Foo, or KF as I often called him, has died.  As I've known KF from my chess days back when he was SCF Executive Secretary in 1993-94 (and I the treasurer) to the days when he took over the Presidency in 1998, KF was always the cheery sort, never flustered. He was also one of the founding fathers of Intchess, with the aim of creating a vibrant professional chess scene in Asia having been involved in the popularising of chess in China in the early 90's. It was in 1996 that he achieved his IA title, putting to good use in chess organisation in Singapore and the region. KF and I shared many views on chess during  our friendship. However, he often lamented that the state of affairs in Singapore did not turn out the way he had wanted it to.Hence he departed from Intchess to pursue other interests but continued to monitor the chess scene. Many may not be aware but he was a top scholar having won the Colombo Plan scholarship ...

My afterthoughts on the recently concluded THOMSON CUP INTERNATIONAL tournament is focused on this topic. It comes as no surprise that the majority of the 103 players in the Silver Section were children under the age of 14, many even below the age of 10. As parents of young children, they would naturally want the chess-playing experience of their kids to be pleasant and memorable. Hence it would be a traumatic episode should the child face someone bigger than his size or older, as the prospect of winning quickly evaporates with the daunting resignation written on their minds even before the first move is made. Hence there was surprise that there are a few adults milling in between the rows of schoolchildren, metaphorically seen as vultures or predators preying on the innocent young players and depriving them of a much desired prize. My principle in hosting the THOMSON CUP tournament is firstly to uphold the sanctity of the rating. All chess players playing in a chess tournament should ...

As we are preparing the hall for the annual THOMSON CUP INTERNATIONAL Chess tournament, the session for June 3 Friday will be closed and resumes on June 10.

Obviously this applies to those taking chess lessons. I am always curious as to how much students do remember or understand the lesson that was just taught to them. Very often, examples were shown and explained. However, once the lesson is over, how does the trainer ensure that the lesson just taught was understood? I usually use the 3 methods to find out: a. Make them play as soon as possible b. Give homework and tests c. Review the same lesson next week for the 1st 15 minutes There is a constant struggle for the trainer to decide whether to introduce new material or to review older lessons to ensure that the student does understand what has been covered. Some parents may not be exactly happy that their child has been taught the same lessons over and over and wonder why. Generally, the problem is that if students do not attempt to use the knowledge taught and do nothing until the next lesson, what was taught is forgotten and the trainer has to start again from a clean slate. Of course...

From the comments made in my previous post, I would like to draw your attention to this article : http://www.chesskids.com/piagpolg.pdf Please pay close attention to his last paragraph, especially his views on chess clubs run by teachers or those with no knowledge of the child's cognitive development.  It is not a pretty scenario.  Which explains the rationale behind my earlier post : we need chess clubs where young and adults can interact, enjoy the game and learn about its beauty and history. The school chess clubs do not do such a good job at that.  There are lots of retiring chessplayers, primarily those born in the 50's who are approaching 55 years of age and will soon retire. Their passion, knowledge and experience should be tapped by the organising body to help revive these chess clubs in community clubs of remniscent of River Valley, Buona Vista, Kuo Chuan, Siglap and even better, develop new ones in townships like Sengkang, Choa Chu Kang and Jurong West. Musterin...

Then please do yourself a favour and read this:   I believe this will cut down at least a few good years of sweat and toil and zoom in on the essentials. You can then consult the individual books on the different variations. Possibly the one below will help greatly There's no need to re-invent the wheel :-)

Having lost my copy of the Singapore Chess Digest August 1986 ( 25 years ago) which this article of mine was published, I took a trip to the Library to retrieve it and reproduce it unabridged: LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Sir,     Chess clubs are created solely for players and enthusiasts to interact and exchange ideas regarding the game. It is often the hive of chess activity in strong chess—playing nations like the USA, Britain and West Germany, where friendly matches and club leagues are most popular.    However, chess clubs today seem to have lost their grip on the chess scene in Singapore. Poor attendances, little activity between clubs and, judging from the number of clubs that have been formed then closed after some months of hunger pangs, the direction of chess is vague and uncertain. Just what does a chess club serve to do for the interested player?    Well, it is certain that all clubs want to provide competitions for players, be it friendly mat...

When examining games of junior players, I see that many do not know what to do when the position in front of them is without any captures or threats to make. They are then left to think of a move, often one that takes a piece backwards into their own territory.  Can anyone blame them? Indeed, it is hardest to teach a junior player strategy when their grasp of tactics is still not strong. To bridge this gap, it is not pertinent to introduce the materials from Nimzowitsch's MY SYSTEM. I would consider using a simpler book, Bruce Pandolfini's WEAPONS OF CHESS.   What I like about this book is that Mr Pandolfini outlines the basic elements of positional chess like the open file, passed pawns, pawn structure weaknesses etc in simple language for the child to understand, then gives explanations on how to play with these elements. He has also given fairly good advice on how one should think when quiet positions with no tactics is reached. Most P3-4 students should have no problems u...