THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

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...

At the recently concluded National Age Group Championships, 8 students took part with 5 of them garnering top 10 positions. Results at a glance...

                          Some of my younger students took part at the recent Toa Payoh West CC tournament on 25 November, honing their skills against the others and did well. There were 8 of them who took part, 3 in the Open category and 5 in the age groups. Only 1 did not manage any prize but he enjoyed his games and was all fired up to the next tournament. Satisfaction comes when we see them pit their wits against older players and pushing them. Royce floored his opponent's Hungarian variation of the KID and duly refuted his opponent's risky Kingside attack, while Shi Hao had NM Koh Kum Hong on the ropes but the older man managed to draw on his experience to find a draw. Hui Ling, I Shiang, Elliot, Tricia, Jonathan and first time playing David all managed merit prizes. A good day ...

I am planning a 3 day 4-hr a day workshop for players who are taking part in the coming National Age Group Championships from 17-21  Dec. Date is 4 to 6 Dec , time 9am to 1 pm or 3 to 7pm .  Venue to be advised. If I get more than 6 participants I will have 2 sessions in 2 different venues, one in Central and the other in the West. The workshop will cover mainly aspects in preparation, clock control ( how to maximise the 4 hour game time) and also thought processes (calculation) used in conducting such games. Each session per day is $50 (inclusive of materials and refreshments). This is open to all (not just my students) so if you are keen about it, please feel free to contact me at 97985479 or email me at jfan2003@gmail.com for further details.

Those interested in taking part in the following events 30th Open Championships ( Open Section - all players, Major Rapid for those born after 1995) which is a 45 minute per side time control game. Blitz Championship ( all players ) Minor Rapid ( For those born after 1999 and WITHOUT FIDE rating) You may download the entry form here  

Since I was in Norway for 6 months in 1989 and working in Horten (which is about 30 minutes drive from Tonsberg, the birth place of Magnus Carlsen), I thought I'd shared with you what it was at the chess scene there. Tonsberg is a very old city but a very vibrant chess-club. I was introduced to the club by the Horten chess convenor, Mr Arild Johansen, a very helpful and nice man (he drove me every week to the club as I did not have a driver's licence or a car). The room was always filled with players, most of them playing standard chess and shunned when I asked to play blitz instead. Those who did were alright, but I won most of the games. Then they realised that they needed to tame the 'foreigner' so the top guns sat down. One was Reidar Weierod, the other was Ivar Charvannes who were both very strong and so I had a hard time. We became good friends during my stay in Norway, often meeting for blitz games during the weekend. One particular old man caught my eye - he was...

While enjoying some blitz games, I was watching the pieces till someone passed me the phone: "John! It's Garry..speak to him, he needs your help".  I noticed that Garry was no ordinary chap given the earlier discussions of him coming to Singapore. So I asked: " Kasparov??" "Please...please speak to him" replied the owner of the phone. I took over the handset and an anxious voice immediately responded " Hello..Hello..this is Garry Kasparov!" With tingles rising all over, I composed myself and answered : "Yes Garry, this is John Wong. I am in charge of your lecture in Singapore. How may I help?" Garry asked if I can provide a screen attached to a computer with ChessBase, which of course is no problem. He then asked what should he be speaking? " How about your game with Topalov in 1999 Wijk Ann Zee?" "Very good, good choice! That's the one I was thinking of! Please prepare the file thank you." Some weeks later, ...

Here are some of my observations based on the player's reports from Rounds 1 to 6. No further reports after that. What I find disturbing are the following comments made regarding the junior's conduct of the games when playing against the stronger teams. Against the Australians (Rd 1): "Linson played against Justin Tan’s Scandinavian. However, he quickly lost a pawn in the opening after a blunder..."   "Cyrus played against Mattheson Lawrence. He was outplayed early in the Sicillian .." Qing Aun as White played a Guicco Piano against Chen Pengyu. Qing Aun was unfamiliar with the idea of preserving his light-squared bishop and it was quickly exchanged. .." Against the South Africans (Rd 2) "Cyrus lost a knight in the opening. .." Against the RSA Team B (Rd 3): After playing a 5 hour marathon the previous round, Iskandar played the black side of the King’s Indian Fianchetto variation well and managed to grab a pawn against his opponent. However,...

I came across the SCF President's remark on the National Junior/Youth Squad performance and an invitation to all stakeholders to give their honest feedback. Well, here's mine. Chess involves 4 parties : players, pieces, a board and rules (not just the rules of chess, but also the relationships between the pieces which constitutes into chess knowledge and theory). Any improvement in the performance of a chess-player must involve these elements - the state of readiness of a player in terms of knowledge of the pieces on the board and the ability to project their movements in the future to concoct a favourable outcome. So its not just the ability to calculate one's moves in question, but the ability to visualise the opponent's responses as well in the formation of one's analysis of the position. Handling these issues while managing them within the time control is key to chess success in tournaments. The first question one would ask about any form of chess train...

This year, our preparations were severely marred by a string of events from the school curriculum. That made it much harder for the team to assemble and work out a consistent training program. The best that I could do was to gather the team for 3 3-hour sessions to drill in tactical play, opening predictions and bolstering their opening choices. The team started well, despatching Global Indian International 4-0 and RI Team 2 3.5-0.5, with Joven saving a totally lost game when his opponent blundered a Queen. Beating ACI Team B was another good score, though Jonah tried too hard to win and lost. Luck favoured us in the early rounds but not later. After lunch tension mounted as the next 3 teams were all the prize winners. It was here that champions would be forged and we came up short - not so in preparation, but in practical play. Although we secured a 3-1 win against RI Team 1, the next 2 pairings were undoubtedly the toughest as we sat to meet Hwa Chong Institution. Jonah played his he...

  I had 8 students playing in this tournament, as I believe that they can practice their thinking and vision skills better in a 1 hr per side game. All except 1 won trophies, which was a good result for any trainer. Here I want to give some comments on their performance: Mitchell, being the oldest in terms of age but relative young (in terms of tutelage) in my group, once again topped the list of my students' performance with a solid 5.5/7 score. His game against Alfred ,although blemished at the end to a draw, was well-conducted in accordance to his style. What I was impressed about him was the determination he set out to play each game to fully utilise his time and made generally good decisions. I am sure this will translate into another 30 rating pts thereabouts.  Adrian as usual, missed the chance to end up in the top 10 finishers not because of lack of playing strength but lack of determination. His last round game against Lew Zhi Hong started not well but he managed to ...

For students playing in the Queenstown Open,  please observe the following advice: 1  No more online games from now till Saturday 2  Revise all your opening notes. Bring them to the tournament. 3  Sleep early on Friday night. 4  You can skip Friday chess sessions at Thomson to rest ON SATURDAY 1   Starting time is 2pm. Have a good lunch. Avoid having rice for your meals, especially chicken rice. It will make you sleepy. 2   Once seated, concentrate on your own game. DO NOT LOOK WHAT OTHERS ARE DOING. 3   Try to get up from your chair once in 15-20 minutes only, not every move. 4   Record your games properly 5   Bring sandwiches on Saturday as you will need them before Round 3 starts at 630. Take your time on the clock and use it wisely! PLAY FAST, LOSE FAST. Guess your opponent's move when he's thinking. Ask when he's thinking who is better , where can your pieces go? If he moves before you finish, remember to co...

The starting list is out. You can click here .

Again, your comments on this. Should we as organisers organise more rapid events or perhaps we should organise more 1 hour events but limit that to no more than 7 a year (ie 14 weekends a year)? Out of the 16 weekends, can an average family spend about 6-8 weekends to play 3 1 hr per side tournaments that will make 21 games a year? Generally my feel is that with longer time controls, we can inject some seriousness in the play and that would make studying chess more relevant to improve upon our moves. Perhaps then, the Schools CCA Branch may take chess more seriously and add it into their Calendar of Events. What say you, parents and enthusiasts??

Often we keep ourselves busy playing tournament after tournament after tournament, never stopping to ask if there's progress made in between them. Often we do not see the games played as an oracle of our next performance. A close examination of games often reveal the very problem of our weaknesses - it gives us the direction of which areas in our game to work on. 3 of my students took part in the recently concluded ASEAN Youth International held at Nanyang Primary School. 1 scored 5.5pts in the U8 Section, while in the Girls U11 she scored 5pts. The weakest finished 4.5pts. As usual, the score means little to me while the games themselves reveal more. The chief issue seems to be clock management. This is partly due to the many rapid chess games they have played over the year. To make 40 moves in 2 hours, it takes discipline and maturity to understand that the average of 3 minutes a move should be fully utilised into searching for good moves. When a good move appears, one should loo...

Go see it...its the one Fischer often uses for his analysis. https://www.noj.si/modules/catalog/products/d_nat_v.jpg

I refer you to ICCFIM Junior Tay's detailed account here .

   This is what everybody came for..the 10 main and 5 merit prizes, with cash prizes limited to the top 5 and books/New in Chess magazines (the latest copy) sponsored by the Chess People. Special thaks to FM Lim Hoon Cheng for his contribution. Here we see last year's winner of the Silver Section, Mr Ambat Sasi Nair battling it out against Aldrin Wong, a regular tournament participant who enjoys playing chess especially with longer time controls. Many parents I spoke to remarked that they much prefer the longer time control as it does not hurry the children to finish their games and allows them time to record the full game. Sad to say, only Thomson and Queenstown CCs offer this format of tournaments which used to be the norm before 25 min time control was introduced. My VS boys were asked to play the tournament as part of their duties as school team players. They fared reasonably well overall, but definitely need some work in the ethics department. One left the tournament at R...

There were skirmishes even at Day 1 of the competition at both sections. IM Terry has not rusted 1 bit as he polished off his opponents with deep strategic plans. Belying that impassive innocent pose, his machinations brought down Nelson Mariano in devious Rook endgame to clinch the point on Round 3. Tan Weiliang survived a Rook and 3 passed pawns vs Jared Neubronner's Rook,Knight and passed RP forcing the Knight to give itself up for the passed pawns to draw. GM Sadorra scored with the Queen's Gambit Declined emerging 3 pawns up against his GM counterpart Eldar. IM Terry at Round 2 playing against Limono Handjojo Cyrus Low dropped his participation at the Patrick Tay tournament and was rewarded with a hard fought draw against GM Gasanov. I was impressed with his calm and collection execution, down to his confident draw offer which the GM accepted without attempting any tricks to swing the game. The Gold Section at work The lower boards at the Silver Section  You can follow the...

Lo and behold! We now have 2 Grandmasters participating in our tournament! GM Sadorra has just arrived in Singapore and will be playing. The other is GM Eldar Gasanov. We have not had the honour of having 2 GMs play since the days of GM Joey Antonio and GM Tu during our 1st Thomson Cup Tournament. Welcome!! All the more incentive to register in the Gold section and try your hand against them :-)

So far we have  Nelson Mariano III and GM Eldar Gasanov who have registered for the Gold Section, along with Arlan Cabe, Tan Wei Liang and Jarred Neubronner among the top seeds. Entries are still open, please submit your entries by Wednesday 10pm.

This is my Middlegame Section (Advanced Players). Most of what I would need for IM or GM study is here. Here's my top players who never-made-it-to-World Champion section. Some Fischer books are stashed here because of overflow from my World Champion section. Portisch, Korchnoi,Nezhmetsinov, Stein, Gligoric and Larsen, along with the old masters like Rubinstein, Tarrasch, Reti etc. My Openings and Positional Play for 1200-2000 ELO section: These were my favourites when I was studying chess a lot. The opening books were kept to a minimal now, as I realised that they get outdated quite soon. So I chose mainly books that explain how to play the openings rather than the repertoire books (but of course, you need at least 1 good one for the openings you play). My favourites were Improve Your Chess Now, Purdy, Improve your Chess Results by Zak (Spassky's trainer) and the book next to it - Study Chess with Tal (by Koblenz, Tal's trainer).     Forgot about my Tactics and Endgames.....